ACCELERATING (SOME PARTS OF) REFORM

According to Politico.com, the Obama administration is making a very big push to increase awareness of some of the most attractive aspects of health care reform and ensure that their implementation is a success.

Even though PPACA was structured so that the most politically attractive provisions would come into effect early (starting in 2010), while more controversial (and costly) provisions are mostly delayed until 2014, the public view of reform remains negative.

The administration’s efforts to change public opinion include accelerating the comment process for regulations providing for addition of young adults to parents’ coverage, disseminating information to small businesses about potential breaks on this year’s taxes, and (mostly successfully) pressuring insurers to drop their most egregious rescission practices, and to allow this summer’s college graduates to stay on their parents’ policies even though the corresponding PPACA provision is not effective until September.

With spending on anti-reform advertising currently running at close to twice that of pro-reform, we can probably expect to see even greater efforts by the government to publicize the short-term benefits of reform, especially among seniors who will gain from gradual elimination of the Medicare D “doughnut hole”.