I have a personal anecdote to share today that shows how hard we must press our liberal congressional representatives to constantly highlight the good stories and explain the "bad" stories that are going to come out in the next few months as the ACA adjusts certain things in Americans insurance policies.
If we don't put pressure on congressional Democrats to both educate themselves and then strongly fight in the media to show the full story, then we risk the ACA turning into another "centrist conventional wisdom" where all the news stories start at a right-ward slant and we find ourselves stuck in a permanent disadvantage.
My Brother-in-Law is a blue-collar right winger. The kind of person that sends you chain emails of accusations so outlandish and fantastical that it is funny in a sad sort of way: "Obama spends billions on luxury week-long trip to India!" The kind of emails you can debunk in a 20 second Google search.
So he told all his friends and extended family that his premiums for his family plan were going up 150% because of Obamacare. He was sure to add how Obama "lied" and Obamacare was destroying the country.
All his friends nodded their heads and agreed this was awful and Obamacare is hurting people, and yet more people were turned off by the ACA. Just one problem though: It was a total fabrication.
The real story: He lost his job and the COBRA coverage was too expensive, so he dropped it. He wanted to go into the individual market and buy a health insurance plan, but the private insurance companies told him his wife had a pre-existing medical condition (one that probably doesn't strike most people as a pre-existing medical condition) and thus they all refused to offer him any coverage plan.
Now however, because of President Obama, they all have to offer him coverage! But he hates the President so much he'll never admit it.
Also, because of his financial problems, he actually is eligible for free insurance via Medicaid, but he hates the government so much he is so far refusing to accept it.
Recap: He has no health insurance for his family, can't get health insurance because of pre-existing conditions, and now Obamacare helps him get subsidized health insurance AND right now he has medicaid availability for his whole family. How does he tell this good news? By making up a story to everyone about how Obamacare is jacking up his non-existent premiums.
And that is just in my small family! Imagine how often this is going to happen around the country as people just don't understand their insurance changes or straight up lie? We have to pick up thousands of the best stories about how this is helping people and get a hold of the best statistics as they come out this year and harp on them constantly.
Before you go I have one more quick thing to share with you: It is not just random Americans screwing up the story of the ACA...Congressional Democrats are also ignorant of much of the health care changes, and thus they are helping spread misinformation.
On Meet the Press today, the CEO of BCBS in Florida said what many of those following health insurance news already know: The hundreds of thousands of people getting insurance policy change notices are not losing their insurance. They are ending policies that had horrible holes such as limits on coverage that made their insurance plans worthless if they were struck with a serious medical condition. They now have options for subsidized plans that will often have lower premiums for real health insurance instead of junk insurance. But here is the key part: Those people aren't losing their health insurance, they are in a transitional phase and their current coverage stays with them while the company continues to work with them to make sure they are fully covered until they are happy with a plan selection.
Rep. Xavier Becerra goes on Fox News and agrees with the false talking point that hundreds of thousands of Americans are getting thrown off their coverage and come January 1st, 2014 they will be without insurance. He then is stuck saying that those bad outcomes will eventually be outweighed with good outcomes.
Why? Because he agreed to defend Democratic policies on Fox News as a Congressional Democrat and didn't educate himself. The result? He looked awful, he looked like someone covering up for a huge failure, instead of someone defending a great improvement for millions of people.
Juan Williams, of all people, was doing a better job defending the changes in policies. Eventually moderator Chris Wallace stepped in to call Williams a liar and say there are no free lunches, so people couldn't possibly be getting more coverage for less money! That's how great Obamacare is, it's so amazing people can't believe it. (Sidenote: Williams should have replied it's not free, there are billions of dollars in funding changes and taxes on the wealthy to pay for it)
We have to do better, we have to make sure we have fully educated people defending the ACA and we must keep winning the media wars, we can only do this if all of you demand better and put pressure on elected liberals to fight harder. I can only do very little as one person, but together we can put pressure on Congressional Democrats to sharpen their message, and a strong enough message will obliterate Republican misinformation.