Lack of Communication about Health Care Law Implementation leads to Misinformation

Rep. Max Baucus, D-Montana, has a point. The Senate Finance Committee Chairman and six-term veteran calls the impending Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation “a huge train wreck coming down.” He is referring to the Obama Administration’s public communication about health care law changes. Or lack thereof. And he’s right.

How many of you know that open-enrollment is October 1? How many of you know how to participate in open-enrollment? How many of you know exactly what “open-enrollment” means? Exactly. And that’s just the beginning.

Politics aside (if you can), the ACA is happening. Yet, polls show the law confuses millions of Americans, and they are skeptical it will benefit them. Part of this confusion is the result of political double-speak on both sides. Baucus even had to explain what he means by “train wreck” (see Billings Gazette article), which is ridiculous because anyone with an elementary education knows what he meant. (He questions how well the ACA is being implemented and how well the administration communicates ACA facts to the public. Duh.)

Here’s a key quote from the AP article posted above:

Administration officials say their public outreach campaign will begin in earnest over the summer. They question the wisdom of bombarding consumers with insurance details now, when there’s not yet anything to sign up for. Baucus said in his state, that vacuum has mostly been filled by misinformation.

Questions: would it really be “bombarding consumers” to give them information that want/NEED to know? Do these officials think Americans would tire of information that pertains directly to their health, that they seek out themselves? Have these officials SEEN a presidential campaign? …talk about bombarding consumers…

When people want information and nothing is coming from authorities, people will—oftentimes unknowingly—create their own interpretation of reality. In other words, misinformation will spread. Ignoring this will not make it go away. It will do the opposite. You can’t ignore the Rumor Mill, but you can use it to your advantage. How? By spreading credible, accurate information on the Internet, through news media, through local health care institutions, through advertising campaigns targeting those less likely to get information from the first three means listed. It can be a soft launch building to a full blitz in the summer. But it needs to be out there. And right now, it’s not.

It’s true that nobody can claim to be an expert of the ACA. That shouldn’t stop the administration from condensing down the rules that apply to consumers into comprehensible chunks for the public to consume at will.

In the meantime, the public will make it up. Because that’s what happens. Communications 101.

UPDATE: They have a plan! (sort of) Forbes Article on Ad Spending for Obamacare