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October 1st, 2013 
Peter Nolan
But officials have warned that enrollment is likely to get off to a quiet
start on Tuesday before building slowly through the six-month enrollment
period.
The US Department of Health and Human Services, which will operate federal
marketplaces in 36 states that have not built a locally-run version of the
scheme. The six-month enrollment period is designed to fix flaws in the
schemes design.
“We will fix them and move on. Is it a sign that the law is flawed and
failed? I don’t think so. I think it’s a sign that we’re building a piece of
complicated technology,” Kathleen Sebelius, the Health Secretary said. “Nothing
like this has ever existed before.”
As many as 7 million Americans are expected to sign up for insurance in 2014
through the exchanges, which open for enrollment into new insurance plans on
Tuesday and will accept applications through March 31. An additional 8
million people are expected to receive health benefits through an expansion
of the government’s Medicaid program for the poor.
Republicans have blamed Obamacare’s requirements for pushing up the cost of
health insurance for business and individuals, a claim the Democrats deny.
“What I want is to keep the government running and at the same time to
deal with the harms, the millions of Americans who are at risk of losing
their healthcare, are facing skyrocketing insurance premiums,” Texas
Senator Ted Cruz, who has been leading the charge among Republicans in
Congress to defund the law, said in an interview with CNN.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been the object of
intensive Republican attack since it was signed into law in 2010. Its foes
tried and failed to use the US Supreme Court and a presidential election to
get it overturned in 2012.
The first enrollees are likely to be people with pre-existing health
conditions and older people who have had a hard time obtaining coverage up
to now. But Obamacare’s success will depend on young healthy adults, whose
lower risk profile is needed to compensate for higher cost beneficiaries.
However, the law remains unpopular with 46 percent of the public.
Anti-Obamacare forces have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in
television advertising, outspending Obamacare supporters by more than
four-to-one. Meanwhile, millions of potential beneficiaries don’t know the
law exists.
Officials said Tuesday would also see a ramp-up in the administration’s
multimillion-dollar media campaign to reach prospective beneficiaries
through television, Twitter, Facebook and social organizations including
churches.
In particular, they are targeting young and healthy Americans whose
participation will help offset the cost of covering sicker beneficiaries.
The advertising campaign is targeting black and Hispanic men between the
ages of 18 and 35 in large cities in Florida, Texas, Illinois and
California.
“People are just starting to tune in,” Ms Sebelius said. “As we
ramp up our communications and connect it with real facts, for the first
time, a lot of Americans will be learning what the law means for them.”
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