Implementation Issues: Optimism, Winners, Losers And What About Those Paper Applications?
A range of health law issues are examined, including a look at some of the consumers who approach the overhaul with a sense of relief and optimism. Meanwhile, while insurance agents are feeling left out, public relations firms see the law as a boon.
The New York Times: Amid The Uproar Over The Health Law, Voices Of Quiet Optimism And Relief
The rollout of the health care law has been plagued with problems so deep that even some of its strongest supporters have soured on its potential. The bottlenecks in the federal online insurance exchange, which serves 36 states; the cancellation of hundreds of thousands of policies that did not comply with the minimum requirements of the new law; and the high price of some plans sold through both federal and state-run exchanges have all cast a pall over President Obama's efforts to win support for the law (Goodnough, Thomas and Abelson, 12/8).
The Associated Press/Washington Post: Insurance Agents Feeling Left Out Of 'Obamacare'
When insurance agent Kelly Fristoe recently spent 30 minutes helping a client pick a mid-level health plan and the federal marketplace website froze, he called the government’s hotline and tried to finish the application. But the operator refused to credit Fristoe as an agent on the application, meaning he wouldn't get the commission or be listed as the follow-up contact if his client needed help again later (12/8).
The Associated Press: Feds Curtail Paper Applications For Health Care Law
Federal health officials, who encouraged alternate sign-up methods amid the fumbled rollout of their online insurance website, began quietly urging counselors around the country this week to stop using paper applications to enroll people in health insurance because of concerns those applications would not be processed in time (12/7).
Politico: Website Woes, PR Firms Boon
It may be have been a debacle, but there is one upside to the glitch-plagued rollout of the health care website: It’s become a powerful case study for crisis management consultants and their clients of what not to do. … Far from the world of government and politics, the botched launch of Healthcare.gov has become an instant classic. It has replaced such notorious bungles as New Coke and the BP oil spill as a real time example in the crisis management world of how not to respond when everything goes wrong. Experts are eagerly cashing in on the administration's missteps, offering critiques in private interactions with clients, as well as publishing blog posts and op-eds on the basic rules of crisis management that were not followed (Gold, 12/8).
Fox News: Just A PR Problem? Obamacare Architect Claims 'Big PR Campaign' Needed
The federal health care overhaul was central to President Obama's two campaigns for the White House, and has been the defining achievement -- for better or worse -- of his presidency. But one of the architects of Obamacare, in a heated interview on "Fox News Sunday," argued that the reason young people are not signing up in droves for coverage under the law is the administration hasn't promoted it. Ezekiel Emanuel, a former health adviser to the president (and the brother of former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel), argued the administration has been too caught up with fixing HealthCare.gov to give the law the proper promotional push (12/8).