President Obama’s Affordable Care Act has experienced a number of setbacks lately. Even before the legislation passed in 2010, the concept of universal health care has always caused a great deal of debate. Some people fundamentally disagree with the idea of mandatory health care, while others feel it’s a basic human right. Earlier universal health-care legislation has never passed easily, even if it was eventually successful. For example, in 1988 the Massachusetts universal health-care plan passed by a narrow margin and did not take effect for 45 months after the vote.
Even those who weren’t necessarily against universal health care have had problems with the Affordable Care Act. As 2014 approached, numerous Americans found their plans being canceled or amended despite assurances they would be able keep their current insurance. This again caused a great deal of controversy, as many needed to shop around for coverage as the deadline approached. Nevertheless, the Affordable Care Act is now in full swing and citizens without health insurance must register before the end of March to avoid paying a fine. Here is some of the latest information on how the Obama administration is working to register the uninsured.
Previous Attempts and Setbacks
The road to universal health care has been a bit rocky, especially since this past October when the healthcare.gov website went live. The website was touted as the gateway to health care for many Americans. It was supposed to have been where the uninsured masses could browse plans and register quickly and easily. However, many agree the development and implementation of the website, which was managed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, was very poorly done.
For some time the website would not allow visitors to register for health insurance at all. Even when it did, many were either frustrated by their earlier attempts or found the site difficult to navigate, and as a result relatively few people have actually successfully registered. Since then, the government has planned information and sign-up sessions at local stores and businesses, though their reception has been lukewarm at best.
The Door-to-Door Approach
In a vigorous attempt to get uninsured Americans coverage, volunteers and paid workers alike have been going door-to-door. Organizations like Planned Parenthood and Enroll America have invested a great deal of time and money in their door-to-door outreach. Ultimately, their goal is to ease the burden of health-insurance registration and get coverage for as many people as possible.
Canvassers draw on commercially available personal data when deciding which houses to visit. None of this data is obtained by government spying or “Big Brother” oversight, despite what critics may have said. Companies can obtain personal information in a number of ways, particularly if you’re active on the Internet. For example, if you request financial aid information from a military college, you have to give your name, age, and maybe some other personal details before information can be sent to you.
Based on the data that’s already out there, Enroll America has compiled a large database which it uses to decipher who is most likely to not have health insurance. Most uninsured Americans either have low-paying jobs or are unemployed, and are typically younger. Men are also more likely to be uninsured than women.
Each person in the system is assigned a number from 1 to 100 based on how likely he or she is to have health insurance. Those with a score of 0 are least likely to be insured. Organizations like Planned Parenthood and Enroll America have been targeting individuals with a score of around 20 or under.
The Effectiveness of Door-to-Door Outreach
The results of door-to-door canvassing have been mixed. Part of the problem is even if people do have low scores, they may already have health insurance. At times, the data canvassers have is outdated and the people they’re looking for are no longer at the address. There will also always be people at work or running errands, and a few who just don’t trust the Affordable Care Act. A few of the people the canvassers visited were convinced the Act would be overturned.
However, the door-to-door initiative has helped many people obtain health insurance. It is also expected that many organizations will ramp up their efforts in the coming weeks. The Obama administration set a goal of having 7 million people registered for universal health care by the end of March, but at the end of January only 3.3 million people had signed up.
If you’re one of those millions of Americans who are still uninsured, it’s now easy to sign up at healthcare.gov. Otherwise, someone may be coming to your door in the next few weeks.