Who could have imagined back in 2010 that the title above would become a punchline? Even though I’m highlighting the President’s words with a sarcastic undertone, I want to clearly state that I think the Affordable Care Act (should’ve been named the Accessible Care Act because it won’t be more affordable), will be great if it increases America’s accessibility to healthcare. We’ll give it time to see if it accomplishes that.
However, a more poorly implemented PR campaign I have never seen. Like with most winning political candidates, they run an amazingly streamlined, adept campaign but seem to lose their mojo after winning when it’s time to lead and govern. Similarly, the push to get this paradigm-shifting legislation (the ACA) passed through Congress lost its direction when it came time for implementation and control of the public relations narrative.
First was the realization that it was not more affordable, although maybe more accessible through healthcare exchanges. Raise your hand if your health insurance is now more expensive (less affordable)…my new comparable insurance plan will increase 52.5%. I’m assuming that my employees insurance plans, who I purchase health insurance for, will increase by about the same amount. Oh, and what was that I said – my new comparable insurance plan?
That’s right, I can’t keep my same insurance. I can’t remember for sure, but didn’t the President (whom I respect as the leader of our country) say we could keep our same insurance if we already had insurance? This video from NY Magazine may remind you what he said:
I feel that the current administration really did push through a potentially great piece of legislation that will increase accessibility to healthcare which is what a first-world civilized society deserves but in our media-obsessed society, you cannot lose the PR campaign. You may say that the legislation is all that matters, not the window dressing and perception of the public rollout of the law, but perception is reality. Keep in mind that I haven’t even mentioned the PR disaster associated with the Federal Healthcare Exchange, healthcare.gov.
Lastly, check out this personal story (or watch the video below) of someone who will be losing their insurance as they battle stage 4 cancer. The insurance she had, quite frankly, sounded too good to be true but now she has lost that excellent insurance because of the implementation of the ACA.
In a recent development, the President now says you may be able to keep your insurance. So do I get to keep the same insurance at the same price or will the price still go up to compensate for others in the system with pre-existing conditions? This is such a conundrum because we’re possibly left with the option of getting new insurance (that we don’t need) at a higher price that meets the minimum requirements of the ACA or keeping our same insurance that does fit our needs (even if it didn’t meet the minimum requirements of the ACA) but at a higher price. Which would lead one to say, “if I’m gonna have to pay more, then I’ll take the “better” insurance. Therefore we’ve gone from complaining about not being able to keep our current insurance to now saying, give me the new insurance (that I don’t really need) if I’m having to pay for it anyway!
Wow!
