Miami Beach Chamber Education Foundation Wins Aetna Voices of Health Competition and $30,000 Prize

HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aetna (NYSE: AET) announced today that the Miami Beach Chamber on Commerce’s Education Foundation is the $30,000 grand prize winner of the 2012 Aetna Voices of Health campaign. This year’s on-line voting competition recognized 34 U.S. organizations that share Aetna’s goals of closing racial and ethnic health care quality gaps and helping people live healthier lives.

“We are thrilled by the number of votes and the amount of public involvement in this year’s Aetna Voices of Health campaign”

The Miami Beach Chamber Education Foundation brings together the strengths and resources of the community to support the needs of public education in Miami Beach. The $30,000 will help fund school nursing programs that help detect childhood health problems. Since obesity is a key driver for many chronic conditions among minority populations, these programs help combat obesity directly within local school systems.

“We are thrilled by the number of votes and the amount of public involvement in this year’s Aetna Voices of Health campaign,” said Floyd W. Green III, Aetna’s head of Community Relations and Urban Marketing. “The Miami Beach Chamber Education Foundation is one of the nation’s top community groups ensuring that adults and children are educated about the various issues that impact their health. We are inspired by their efforts and proud to support them.”

Through the Aetna Voices of Health campaign, people cast votes between August and October for their favorite nominated non-profit organizations. With 205,629 votes, the Miami Beach Chamber Education Foundation finished in first place. The Dallas Mayor’s Youth Fitness Initiative (also known as “MyFi”) won the $20,000 second place prize with 168,657 votes.

Overall, the campaign generated 718,354 votes; compared to 636,539 votes in 2011 (the first year of the program). This year also included international votes from countries such as the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Australia, Germany and France.

“The Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation is honored to collaborate with Aetna on this initiative, which allows us to harness our very active community to help meet the need for health care in the local schools,” said Alan Lips, chairman of the Board, Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce. “The tremendous response from our community and business leaders supported us in our victory and we thank them all. It was a true grassroots community effort, and we thank Aetna on behalf of our students, who will now receive the care they deserve.”

The Aetna Voices of Health campaign honors organizations who are working to close disparity gaps in health care. This campaign also recognizes those who promote wellness in communities by fighting conditions like asthma, diabetes, and childhood obesity - all of which hit people of color at higher rates than the overall population.

About Aetna

Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 37.3 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities, Medicaid health care management services and health information technology services. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com.