I’m not sure if telling Americans they aren’t particularly smart is the best way to sell a product…but, then, we did have over 50% vote for Obama
Are We Smart Enough for Obamacare?
Leaving aside the perceptions of Obamacare that prove so vexing to conservatives, there’s a huge problem with the current conception of the Affordable Care Act: It requires Americans to determine something complex on their own.
This is not a criticism of the Health Insurance Marketplace websites like healthcare.gov, which look like they’re using a language remarkably like everyday English and navigation that’s reasonably intuitive. No, this is a criticism of average people, both educated and uneducated, who must engage a process that involves reading, comprehension, and decision-making—and applied to a process developed by bureaucrats and described as “an ugly patch on an ugly system.” It’s no wonder the roll-out involved hiring “navigators†who can offer in-person help for people drowning in data.
It does beg the question “if this is so damned complicated and difficult to understand, is this a good program?” If they’ve made things this complex but mandate people to either purchase insurance or face a fine/tax, and we’re talking about just understanding the way the insurance works and simply signing up, this is a problem. And we haven’t even gotten to the point where people would attempt to use the “Affordable” Care Act insurance yet.
