The administration’s health care PR isn’t much
It’s Kathleen Sebelius on the phone, making another important announcement about how health care reform is making a difference in the lives of ordinary citizens. But it’s very little, very late.
Because of the health care law, the health and human services secretary said via two consecutive conference calls with the press, 3.1 million young adults now have health insurance they would not have had without it. As a result, the proportion of insured adults, ages 19 to 25, has increased to nearly 75 percent. That’s because the law requires insurers to allow young adults to remain on their parents’ family plans until they turn 26, even if they move away from home or graduate from school.
Also because of the health care law, more than 200 community health centers across the country, which provide front-line medical care, are receiving $128 million in grant money, and more than 5,000 new jobs will be created as a result.
The Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the historic Affordable Care Act is expected early next week. So now, a few days before that announcement is due, Obama officials are trying to sell the positive parts of the law. Good luck to them. Much of the public already thinks of health care reform as the end of America as they know it, because that’s the way opponents relentlessly portrayed it.
Post Continues on bostonglobe.com