There They Go Again: Univision and ObamaCare

August 14th, 2014 4:43 PM

Univision is out with a new ad series promoting ObamaCare enrollment. In the latest installment, instead of distancing Univison’s news division from the ObamaCare marketing machine, now the tie-in could not be more direct, as the new ObamaCare ad features none other than network’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Juan Rivera.

“We want you to enroll now. Insure yourself,” Dr. Rivera exhorts viewers in the new ad [see video after the page break.]  Unlike Univision's previous ObamaCare enrollments ads, which featured network morning show talent, Dr. Rivera is a regular fixture in Univision's news programming.


Univision’s current and previous ObamaCare enrollment ads are a product of the Spanish-language television network’s high-profile, lucrative partnership with the Obama administration in promoting ObamaCare.

The California Endowment, whose logo appears in the ad, serves as a financial funnel for this partnership, and last year signed a $20 million deal with Univision for its “multi-platform” ObamaCare enrollment campaign, as reported by Kaiser Health News. It has yet to be revealed whether or not the new ad series is tied to a fresh multi-million dollar deal between the two organizations.

Partiality in Univision’s news coverage of ObamaCare has been a chronic problem at the network, as documented by the Media Research Center's landmark April 2014 study Hispanic Media in the Balance. The content analysis of the network’s flagship news program, Noticiero Univision, found that over the course of four months, liberal advocates of ObamaCare were cited nearly five times as often as conservative opponents of ObamaCare.

Univision’s news coverage of ObamaCare has been frequently bracketed by promotional tie-ins and commercials, such as this latest one, shown below.

Despite the untold millions of dollars spent to foist ObamaCare upon the population, polls show it is opposed by a large segment of the nation’s Hispanics. A Pew Research Center poll in March of 2014 found Hispanics in the U.S. evenly divided (at 47%) between those who support and oppose it. Similarly, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll last month found that 53% of Americans overall have an unfavorable opinion of ObamaCare.