Another problem with ObamaCare? Ignorance:
A recent Gallup poll shows that about 70% of uninsured Americans are unfamiliar with the exchanges, where they may be able to enroll in new coverage and access federal subsidies to make policies more affordable. This figure was essentially unchanged from September, before the exchanges launched. Awareness did rise among the general public, according to the Pew survey, with 65% of Americans aware of the existence of the exchanges, up from 51% in September.
So it would seem that the Administration has made pretty big strides towards informing people about the exchanges. Or it could be that people turn on the news and see stories about other people trying and failing to actually use them. That’s not exactly the kind of first impression the White House was hoping for — but at least people know about them!
But there’s more:
The White House says some 20 million people have visited HealthCare.gov, the troubled federal exchange website, since it launched on Oct. 1. But those visits may not portend a future wave of enrollment. Although Pew found 1 in 7 Americans has visited an exchange website, more than half of those visitors already have insurance through an employer or government program, making them ineligible for new private coverage through Obamacare. About one-third of exchange website visitors were uninsured, according to Pew.
Only one-third of Healthcare.gov’s visitors were actual potential customers — and hardly any of them could do so much as to create an account. I think the other two-thirds were reporters trying (and failing) to do the same.
Professor Wiggleroom tells us he’s as mad as hell about all this, but we’ll have to take him at his word. Because he hasn’t taken any concrete action — you know, like firing somebody — to send the message to clean up this mess.
What’s it take to get fired these days?
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