What we've got here is a failure to communicate, said both the captain and the chain gang prisoner in the 1967 movie "Cool Hand Luke." The same could be said about the year-old Affordable Care Act.
Americans still have little idea how they can take advantage of the new law. The latest Kaiser Health tracking poll shows that a majority of Americans say they are confused or do not have enough information to understand how health reform will impact them personally.
That's a failure of congressional Democrats, who ran away from their signature achievement in the 2010 election. It's a failure of President Barack Obama in not employing the bully pulpit to make the case for the reform. It's also the result of congressional Republicans seeking to undermine the law before it has a chance to succeed.
Yet only 21 percent in the Kaiser poll would repeal the law without replacement reforms.
The word needs to get out.
Other surveys show that most of California's 503,000 small businesses with fewer than 25 employees remain unfamiliar with new tax credits that would help them offset the costs of purchasing coverage for their employees.
Most of the 20,000 Californians who have been uninsured for at least six months and have been denied coverage by insurance companies due to a pre-existing condition – such as diabetes, asthma, cancer or HIV/AIDS – have yet to access coverage from the new Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan. To date, fewer than 2,000 have enrolled.
An estimated 196,000 of California's uninsured young adults (up to age 26) could gain insurance coverage if they knew that insurance companies are now required to allow their parents to keep them on their insurance plans (if they don't get insurance through their job).
To read the complete editorial, visit www.sacbee.com.
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