http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2013/11/21/the-insiders-new-obamacare-marketing-sign-up-and-shut-up-or-the-irs-will-be-calling//?print=1The Insiders: New Obamacare marketing – ‘Sign up and shut up or the IRS will be calling’
By Ed Rogers, Updated: November 21 at 8:11 pm
Obamacare was marketed to voters as a health-care overhaul that would allow Americans to benefit from lower costs and more options, and keep their current insurance and stay with their existing doctors if they wanted to. Well, for millions of Americans, none of that is true. As the truth about Obamacare reveals itself, President Obama has admitted that he will have to “remarket and rebrand” his plan.
How does the White House think they will “remarket” Obamacare to voters? Telling the truth could not possibly achieve good results. The truth reveals that under Obamacare, you can’t keep your current insurance plan unless Obama’s Washington likes it, you can’t keep your doctor or local hospital unless you are lucky, and that you will pay higher premiums and higher deductibles to get fewer choices. Of course, there will be no chance for appeal. New slogans won’t do the trick; voters would need to be hypnotized to accept the real Obamacare.
The Democrats’ sappy pleas that they understand they have to win back consumers by “fixing” what’s wrong with Obamacare are bogus. Consumers don’t have a choice. Americans won’t be using the Obamacare exchanges because they find the Obamacare branding and marketing pitches informative and appealing, they will use the exchanges because if they don’t, Obama’s IRS will fine them. The gentle appeals that we will be hearing as a result of all the “rebranding” and “remarketing” are just cynical, doe-eyed scams. The truth is, if you don’t sign up for Obamacare, the IRS is coming after you. Now that’s effective marketing. And the White House knows it.
In the Wall Street Journal today, we also learned about one mother who went on the exchanges trying to find affordable health insurance after her plan was cancelled. The website forced her to accept Medicaid instead of giving her options for purchasing her own health insurance as she wanted to do. This must be a first in America: people being forced into welfare despite their willingness and ability to pay their own way.
The White House plan to “rebrand” Obamacare is simple. The new plan is to make certain that the president, Administration officials, Democrats everywhere and apologists in the media never, ever, ever use the word “Obamacare” again. I personally refuse to conform to the new guidance. Obamacare is now a word with its own meaning, and the negative image it conjures up is here to stay. “Obamacare” is more synonymous with “Hindenburg” than it is with “Apollo.”
But whatever the Democrats call their health-care plan, it doesn’t change its failings. The law still forces the young and healthy to pay for things they don’t want or need so Democrats can subsidize benefits for the constituencies President Obama favors. Individual insurance plans continue to be cancelled, with a giant new wave of business plan cancellations reportedly on the way. With increasing regularity, people will realize they can’t keep their doctor — and in some places, thanks to Obamacare, they won’t even be welcome at their convenient local hospital. And, oh by the way, millions more will learn that, thanks to Obamacare, they are paying more and getting less. The president’s “rebranding and remarketing” strategy will be nothing more than an effort to mask these inconvenient truths.
It’s unlikely the president will succeed in his “rebranding and remarketing” quest, and it’s also unlikely that he’ll get away this time with his usual approach when things go wrong: blaming Republicans. All the “rebranding and remarketing” in the world won’t allow the Democrats to escape the growing plague of Obamacare.
P.S. – Since the term “Obamacare” is now forbidden, I invite readers to send in their nomination for a word to replace it.
