Although the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been the law of the land since 2010, 40% of Americans are unaware that the ACA is law, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey. Many of the provisions of the ACA are already in place.
Despite the lack of awareness, efforts around the “individual mandate” provision, which will require most people to have health insurance on January 1, 2014, are gearing up right now. The state online health insurance exchanges are scheduled to open October 1. In June, 9,000 new jobs will be created in 14 states to staff call centers to answer inquires related to the insurance marketplaces. Those call centers will be expanded to service the 34 states where the exchanges will be wholly or partially run by the federal government. States running their own exchanges will also set up toll-free hotlines.
With all the talk about some 30 million uninsured flooding the healthcare system, the phase-in appears to be much more gradual. The administration’s goal is to enroll 7 million people who are uninsured or buy individual policies in 2014. To maintain affordable premiums, it is now estimated that 2.7 million enrollees will need to be between the ages of 18 and 34. The Obama administration has launched a nationwide campaign targeting young people across the country, using tactics similar to those used in the re-election campaign.
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