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Contact: John Doe FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
E-mail: johndoe@themedicaregap.org
NEW MEDICARE EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN TARGETS YOUNG ADULTS
“@themedicaregap” Utilizes Social Media to Help Younger Generations Learn about Proposed Changes to Medicare and Their Investment in Their Future.
March 26, 2013 (BOSTON, MA) - Next month, @themedicaregap will be launched in an effort to increase knowledge of and awareness about the current state of Medicare and its relationship to political discussions on health care reform. Nancy Kwan, a senior at Emerson College in Boston and Director of @themedicaregap, decided to create the campaign after learning that over one-third of the nation’s adults are reported to have low-levels of health literacy, as well as discovering a dearth of existing online campaigns about Medicare.
“Medicare, especially, isn’t an issue people my age typically care about,” said Kwan. They aren’t thinking that far. But our campaign will show them that they should have a vested interest in the debate on Medicare. Not only does the program constitute the majority of our nation’s overall expenditures on health care, but in its current state, it may not be there when they reach eligibility age.”
The campaign will be targeted through a mainly social media presence, including Facebook, Twitter, and Wordpress and focus on adults ages 21 - 40. The website, www.themedicaregap.org, will be an aggregator of the most accessible, plainly-worded literature and resources on Medicare, including a knowledge test from The Kaiser Family Foundation and fact sheets from Medicare.gov. The campaign will also conduct nation-wide surveys to gauge this audience’s knowledge and attitudes towards Medicare.
“Medicare is a hugely political issue,” she said. “Our campaign will help these younger generations establish their opinions through a variety of unbiased, educational material. I hope that they will take advantage of the access of information we plan on providing.”
Nancy Kwan is a senior at Emerson College studying Political Communication and Health Communication. She can be reached at themedicaregap@gmail.com.
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Contact: John Doe FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
E-mail: johndoe@themedicaregap.org
NEW SURVEY FINDS THAT YOUNG PEOPLE ARE UNSURE ABOUT MEDICARE
The Medicare Gap (@”themedicaregap”), a recently established Medicare educational campaign, conducted a survey among young adults and found mixed opinions among their target audience.
April 30, 2013 (BOSTON, MA) - The Medicare Gap conducted a survey at the beginning of their campaign to gauge people’s interest in and knowledge about Medicare. This brief, 13 - question survey asked questions such as “Do you feel that you will have access to Medicare when you retire?” and “Do you believe that Medicare is a significant part of the nation’s overall budget?” Nancy Kwan, founder and director of The Medicare Gap, announced the results today and plans on using this data to support the need for this educational campaign.
“The results were not that surprising, given our hypothesis that many young adults either don’t have an active interest in Medicare or don’t have an adequate understanding,” said Kwan. “For the question about if Medicare should continued to be funded as it already is, 34% of respondents favored an increase and 44% favored a decrease. In another question about whether Medicare should be affected when addressing the deficit by reducing spending on federal programs, 64% supported some kind of reduction in funding. There’s clearly a disconnect there - a contradiction, or a gap in understanding.”
While it seems that there is a widespread lack of understanding about Medicare among my survey respondents, there is also an indication that they are interested in learning more, especially through a social media campaign. This survey data justifies the need for the campaign, which aims to educate young adults about Medicare and encourage them to learn more. The next survey will have similar, if not identical, questions and will be administered in November 2013, with two more surveys planned to follow.
Nancy Kwan is a senior at Emerson College studying Political Communication and Health Communication. She can be reached at themedicaregap@gmail.com.
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