“Year of the Military Family” Public Service Campaign Launched

—Initiative promotes supporting and thanking America’s three million military families—

To recognize the sacrifices and the day-to-day needs of America’s three million military family members, the US Family Health Plan, a Department of Defense-sponsored healthcare plan, has partnered with the National Military Family Association (NMFA) to implement a public service campaign urging citizens to “support, befriend, remember and appreciate” military family members. US Family Health Plan, which in January launched a “Year of the Military Family” initiative, underwrote the public service campaign and has also donated to a scholarship fund for military family members, treated scores of them to free movie screenings and finalized plans to provide 150,000 more with complimentary family portraits.

“Having served military families for over a quarter century, we’ve set aside 2007 to recognize and be of greater assistance to them,” says Marshall Bolyard, chair of the US Family Health Plan Alliance. “The public service campaign, initiated by the National Military Family Association and produced with our support, is one way to do that.”

Tanna Schmidli, chairman of NMFA (www.nmfa.org), says, “Our collaboration with US Family Health Plan this year reflects our continued, mutual commitment to military families. The public service campaigns furthers NMFA’s longtime mission of protecting and promoting the interests of military families.”

The campaign consists of national print, radio, TV, online and in-cinema public service announcements. Thirty- and 15-second video PSAs will air to approximately 3.4 million moviegoers in 205 theatres this summer and, along with four radio PSAs, may be downloaded from www.yearofthemilitaryfamily.org. Additional messages will be conveyed through military association publications and via the airwaves in regions heavily populated by military families.

“The campaign is moving and emotional, designed to get people thinking – not about the politics of war, but rather, the families who contribute to the nation’s well-being every day, during war as well as peace,” Bolyard says. For example, the PSAs suggest having coffee with a soldier’s parents, hiring a military spouse and mentoring a military child.

In further support of military families, the health plan’s contribution to the American Patriots Scholarship Program, an initiative of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), will aid students whose parents have died during active service. All administrative costs will be borne by MOAA and 100 percent of the donation will go directly to the merit-based program to educate the sons and daughters of military personnel. More information about the American Patriots Scholarship Program is available online at www.moaa.org.

The Year of the Military Family initiatives have generated ample positive feedback, according to Bolyard. In response to the recent movie screenings, complete with free popcorn and beverages, a Navy wife from Maine remarked in a letter to the health plan, “It was so nice to be in a place where military families were the guests of honor. Your willingness to openly recognize the sacrifices made by those serving this country, their spouses and their children will not be forgotten.”

The free family portraits will be provided this fall in partnership with participating JCPenney® Portrait Studios through vouchers distributed by the health plan. Through the portrait studios’ “Smiles by Wire” service, military family members will have the opportunity to share their photographs online with deployed loved ones.

US Family Health Plan, a comprehensive health plan, is available in six regions on the East, West and Gulf coasts to family members of active-duty service men and women, as well as military retirees and their eligible family members. It’s a managed care (TRICARE Prime) option within the government’s military health benefits system and is distinguished by member satisfaction ratings 22 percent higher than the national average for satisfaction with health plans, as reported by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) in its Quality Compass 2006 Public Report.

Enrollment in US Family Health Plan, which currently serves nearly 100,000 military family members, is offered through the following networks of community-based hospitals and physicians:

About the US Family Health Plan

US Family Health Plan is a TRICARE Prime option available to families of active duty military, retirees and their eligible family members, including those age 65 and over, through networks of community-based hospitals and physicians in six areas of the country.

US Family Health Plan enrollment is offered through:

• JOHNS HOPKINS COMMUNITY PHYSICIANS | 1-888-400-4200
  Serving central Maryland and parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia
• MARTIN’S POINT HEALTH CARE | 1-888-241-4556
  Serving Maine and New Hampshire
• BRIGHTON MARINE HEALTH CENTER | 1-800-818-8589
  Serving central and eastern MassachUSetts, including Cape Cod, and Rhode Island
• SAINT VINCENT CATHOLIC MEDICAL CENTERS | 1-800-241-4848
  Serving parts of New York, all of New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and southern
• Connecticut CHRISTUS HEALTH | 1-800-678-7347
  Serving southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana
• PACIFIC MEDICAL CENTERS | 1-888-958-7347
  Serving the Puget Sound area of Washington State

For more information, visit the US Family Health Plan Web site.