There will be plenty of jokes, stunts and look-at-me celeb cameos in the commercials that air during Sunday’s (Feb. 11) Super Bowl LVIII. But one star-studded ad will also serve up a spoonful of hard-facts sugar with its A-list medicine courtesy of Grammy nominees Jelly Roll and Valerie June and this year’s best country album Grammy winner Lainey Wilson.
“Hospitals and insurers are robbing all of us,” says Wilson in a 30-second ad slated to run on Sunday during the big game in Washington, D.C. and other select markets. “100 million Americans drowning in medical debt,” adds Jelly Roll in the spot from Power to the Patients, a group founded in 2001 that said the aim of the high-profile commercial is to “force hospitals and insurance companies around the country to publicize actual prices for their services and procedures in advance instead of billing patients after the fact.”
The trio then go on to say that when hospitals and insurers don’t show their prices they are able to charge patients whatever they want. “Their greed is destroying the American dream,” adds Jelly, who last month joined Fat Joe and Wyclef Jean at aPower to the Patients event in Washington, D.C. to advocate for fair billing to a group of 500 government officials and members of Congress.
“We look to our elected officials in Congress to put a stop to the overcharging,” June and Wilson say in the PSA in which the trio appear in front of a white backdrop, the camera zoomed in on their faces. A statement alongside the ad notes that federal rules require hospitals and insurers to post prices, though the organization claims that three years after the rules went into effect only 36% of hospitals are fully complying.
It also notes that a bipartisan group of Senators introduced legislation in December aimed at strengthening and expanding healthcare price transparency requirements and empower patients, employers, unions and workers to shop for the “right care, be protected from overcharges and lower their care and coverage costs.”
The spot will air during Sunday’s match-up between defending champs the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, with Usher headlining the halftime show; the game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Check out the Power to the Patients Super Bowl LVIII ad below.
