Public Service Announcement (PSA)
The Open Enrollment period for health insurance for 2018 is
November 1 – December 15, 2017
Sign up at HealthCare.gov.
August 31, 2017 – The Trump administration cut the advertising budget for outreach to voters eligible for an Affordable Care Act health plan (Obamacare). Trump has stated he wants Obamacare to implode and fail from lack of participation. (‘Let Obamacare Fail’, nytimes.com)
To put this in perspective:
In the last Presidential election Trump and Clinton combined spent approximately $2.4 Billion USD for about 129 million votes (Sources: US Elections Project, Wikipedia).
We’re rounding but run with me.
2016 average advertising cost/voter = $18.69/voter
-or-
3 trips + nice tips to Starbucks for a fancy coffee for me.
According to the Googles and several sources, the number of voters purchasing healthcare insurance through the ACA (Obamacare) is about 11 million.
In 2017, the advertising spending for outreach to those purchasing healthcare will be $0.90/enrollee.
Billions to get out the vote.
Millions to encourage healthcare coverage.
Ugh. Priorities.
And stil with no replacement plan in sight. Aargh! So the good news (not) is we get to participate in our democracy by completely doing his and Congress’ job for them and get the word out. Thanks Viva. You rock!
Thank you! I’m going to repeat the reminder before and during enrollment period. And encourage others to do likewise …