Peter Suderman on How Obama Relied on False Hope to Sell Obamacare

When
the October launch of Obamacare’s online insurance portals went
disastrously awry, the Obama administration had a handy
communications strategy ready: Distract people with false hope. On
October 21, as the online federal exchange system at the heart of
President Obama’s health law entered its third week of widespread
failures, the president gave a televised speech in which he
admitted that there were “kinks in the system,” but also insisted
that the exchange problems could be worked around, because the
online insurance portals weren’t the only way to enroll in
coverage. “While the website will ultimately be the easiest way to
buy insurance through the marketplace, it isn’t the only way,”
he said. “I want to emphasize this….you can still buy the same
quality affordable insurance plans available on the marketplace the
old-fashioned way, offline—either over the phone or in person.” The
application process, Obama said, would only take about 25 minutes
for an individual. As workarounds go, it was appealing enough. But,
writes Reason Senior Editor Peter Suderman, it was also basically
useless. 

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