Amanda Sears of Deerfield is director of NH Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy.

The campaign ad launched by Gov. Chris Sununu last week reminds me of President Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner. In the new commercial the governor claims, with a big grin, that he has “delivered paid family leave.”

Granite Staters who are surprised to hear about this apparent delivery should not make any new plans to get the surgery they couldn’t afford to miss work for or to stay home with their newborn. In reality, those who did not have paid family leave before Sununu was governor still don’t have it today. Working families can chalk that up to the fact that Gov. Sununu stopped three bipartisan paid family and medical leave bills from becoming law.

Why then would the governor highlight it in his ad? Because it’s popular. Eighty percent of New Hampshire voters want the state to have a paid leave program that covers everyone. To provide cover for repeatedly vetoing this popular program Gov. Sununu has turned the state into an insurance agent for MetLife and called it good.

While a lack of paid time off for caregiving was a problem before the pandemic, the past two years have highlighted the financial insecurity working families face from unexpected health threats and related time away from work.

Right now, more than two-thirds of working people in New Hampshire lack access to paid family and medical leave and there are significant disparities between those who have and do not have it.

Women, and people with caregiving responsibilities, including families with a person experiencing disability, are far less likely to have paid family and medical leave. These same working people are more likely to have a need for time away from work to meet caregiving needs. Families making less than $60,000 per year are also less likely to have paid family and medical leave. The governor’s deal with MetLife makes no commitment to shifting these disparities.

Eleven other states and the District of Columbia have ensured every working person in their states has paid leave when they need it. The insurance product New Hampshire will advertise provides fewer weeks of coverage at a higher cost than working people experience in any of the states with a real paid leave program. Gov. Sununu is touting his approach as unique, but it’s not particularly innovative when dealing with for-profit insurers for consumers to get less while paying more.

Private insurers already have too much control over our health care decisions. Gov. Sununu is now saying we should trust them to decide when and whether we can provide care to our loved ones.

In his campaign ad, the governor duplicitously claims to have delivered paid leave and saved Granite Staters from an income tax when in fact he has done neither. Instead of delivering for working families, his plan will deliver higher profit margins for out-of-state private insurance companies.

Gov. Sununu, this isn’t something to smile about.