When children return to school a few weeks from now, don’t expect to find Obamacare forms stuffed inside their backpacks.
Supporters of the health law see back-to-school season as a natural time for Obamacare outreach, a chance to find young families who could benefit from new health coverage options. But weeks before the school bells start ringing in parts of the country, there’s no concerted effort to reach parents at the schoolhouse door. It’s yet another sign of how the undying controversy could overshadow attempts to get people enrolled.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan told POLITICO this summer that his department has no plans to actively advocate for the health law, only providing help when asked. “No one has asked us,” he added.
More recently a Department of Education spokesman said federal officials are sending out brochures from the Department of Health and Human Services. They are also working with “state and local partners” on written and online materials, and one aspect they want to stress is that Obamacare’s preventive health benefits would be particularly important to children and families.
But schools at this point aren’t a nationwide focal point of outreach and enrollment. The National PTA isn’t gearing up either. “National PTA does not have any plans to assist in the dissemination of information about the Affordable Care Act,” said spokeswoman Abiah Weaver.
And the big sign-up campaign from Enroll America, an organization of Obamacare allies and health law stakeholders, hasn’t focused on schools, at least not as of now.
States or school districts can act on their own; Los Angeles, for instance, is training some high school juniors and seniors how to be Obamacare messengers to their families and communities. But the lack of a national strategy is just one more sign of how hard it is for the administration and its allies to focus on health benefits, not health politics, as Obamacare enrollment nears. And the Republicans have made it clear that they don’t want the schools to go anywhere near the controversial health law.
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