• DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The television ads show a series of medical mishaps: a man kicking the wrong leg in a reflex check, a urine sample bottle that won't open for a frustrated patient and a blood pressure cuff letting out a strange noise when the doctor presses the plastic bulb.
• After each scene, a narrator says: "Things don't always work like they're supposed to. Good thing the government exchange website isn't the only place to buy health insurance."
• A Midwestern company not participating in the federal health insurance marketplace next year launched the ads recently in Iowa and South Dakota. They poke fun at the technical problems that have plagued the federal government's enrollment website.
• Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which has headquarters in Des Moines and Sioux Falls, S.D., is simply trying to make sure consumers know they can buy insurance directly from the company rather than go through the federal government, spokeswoman Traci McBee said.
• "They're designed to get attention through humor," McBee said. "That way they can hear the message that there's more than one place to shop."
• While many insurers are running television spots at the moment promoting their products and often directing buyers to their own websites, this exact kind of messaging has not been seen in other states.
• Elizabeth Wilner, vice president of Kantar Media, which tracks advertising, said that in general, she has seen more aggressive ads coming from small insurance outfits seeking to pick up business, while many bigger insurance companies have been careful to avoid directly knocking the Affordable Care Act, perhaps opting for caution as they see how the law will unfold.
• Wilner said the Wellmark ads were the most direct she had seen commenting on the federal insurance enrollment website.
• "The Wellmark ads are the only ones we've seen so far that explicitly make fun of the federal website," Wilner said.
• Though Wellmark's ad campaign appears unique, insurance brokers and compa

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