Political airwaves dominated by anti-Obamacare ads

More than a quarter of all political advertisements on television this year mention healthcare, and 14% of those specifically reference the federal healthcare law, according to an analysis released by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Nearly $800 million was spent on televisions spots about health insurance or healthcare political ads through Oct. 15. Health insurance advertising, including marketing efforts by HHS and the state exchanges, totaled $482 million. Political ads accounted for slightly more than $300 million in spending, with the overwhelming majority attacking the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Just over half of healthcare-related political spots since the beginning of the year have specifically referenced the ACA or Obamacare, a total of 849 different ads. Of those, almost all were negative ads sponsored by Republicans. More than 300 various candidates or issue groups sponsored anti-ACA spots.

Just 5% of ads that mentioned the healthcare law were sponsored by Democrats and only 4% included pro-ACA content. In addition, 84% of Republican-sponsored healthcare ads referenced the landmark federal law, compared to just 15% of Democratic-sponsored healthcare ads.

More than a third of all ACA political spots ran in highly contested Senate races. Republicans need to win six seats to take control of the Senate, a proposition that looks increasingly likely as Election Day approaches.

The most expensive pro-ACA ad of the election cycle was run by Rep. Joe Garcia (D-Fla.), who faces a tough re-election battle against GOP challenger Carlos Curbelo. The ad cost roughly $750,000 and was aired more than 1,000 times.

Insurers also spent big to line up customers during the first open-enrollment period under Obamacare, with 1,900 unique ads. Only about half of those spots specifically referenced the ACA.

Humana spent $45 million on a single ad that ran more than 4,000 times across 146 local media markets. That was the most expensive spot run by any insurer, according to the Kaiser analysis.

Roughly two-thirds of insurance ads were sponsored by carriers. HHS paid for 15% of spots and the state exchanges sponsored 12% of ads. Roughly 10% of insurance ads were in Spanish and more than half of those spots aired in California and Texas.

The Kaiser study was done in conjunction with analysts from Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group.

Follow Paul Demko on Twitter: @MHpdemko