WASHINGTON — Fans of the Jet City Rollergirls hear public announcements about Obamacare at the Everett roller derby track.
Univision, the nation’s largest Spanish-language television network, airs half-hour specials about healthy living and teaches viewers how to sign up for coverage under President Barack Obama’s law.
And tax preparers at thousands of Jackson Hewitt and H&R Block offices are talking to customers about how to enroll in the new insurance plans sold through the law’s online marketplaces.
Although many companies remain wary of associating with the health law while it remains a political lightning rod, the Affordable Care Act is increasingly entering the mainstream as major corporations, sports teams and others integrate it into their business.
The development may not erase skepticism about the law, which has deepened in recent months, polls show. But as Obamacare becomes embedded in American life, the Republican drive to dismantle it will almost certainly become more complicated.
“Once the legislation became the law of the land, we feel it became a reasonable decision to educate our fans as to how it impacts their lives,” said Brad Ruiter, a Minnesota Timberwolves spokesman. The NBA franchise runs ads at home games paid for by the state’s insurance marketplace.
The MNsure ads at the Target Center in Minneapolis — which also run at Minnesota Wild hockey games at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul — are the kind of promotional campaign that many of the law’s critics had hoped to prevent.
Many Republican state officials have tried since the law was enacted in 2010 to block its implementation — rejecting federal aid to expand health coverage, restricting local groups that help people sign up, even refusing in some cases to regulate insurance plans. Conservative groups have urged Americans not to sign up for coverage. And GOP politicians have actively discouraged companies and other organizations from assisting the rollout.
When Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said last summer that the administration was talking with the National Football League about promoting the benefits of health insurance, Senate GOP leaders fired off a sharply worded letter to six of the nation’s leading sports leagues.
An NFL spokesman responded that the league had no plans to work with the administration.
Outreach outside the office
State insurance marketplaces created by the law allow Americans who do not get health benefits through work to shop online for health plans that meet new basic standards for coverage.
The success of these marketplaces, a central pillar of the law, hinges on whether millions of healthy people enroll this year and help offset the cost of the sickest customers. State leaders have actively sought partnerships with businesses whose customers may be more likely to need health insurance.
“From the outset … we knew that if we wanted to reach young people, this couldn’t look like a traditional government program,” said Michael Marchand, who heads the marketing effort for the Washington state insurance marketplace. Among the state’s partners is Live Nation Entertainment, the Los Angeles-based concert promoter whose multiday Sasquatch! Music Festival sold 110,000 tickets last year.
In Denver, Colorado’s online marketplace reached out to the National Western Stock Show, which hosted a table where marketplace staff gave information to cattle ranchers and others.
The tax implications
Some major corporations, such as Jackson Hewitt, see sound business reasons to educate their customers. They are also giving a potential lift to the health law.
At about 6,500 tax offices, including in Wal-Mart and Sears stores, Jackson Hewitt proclaims the importance of getting coverage on bright yellow signs that urge taxpayers to learn about their options.
The company’s tax preparers ask every customer if they have coverage. Those who don’t are referred to specialists who use Jackson Hewitt software to determine if they are eligible under the law for free Medicaid or subsidized private coverage.
The program automatically generates a Medicaid application for those who qualify, which customers can mail in. (Next year, Jackson Hewitt hopes to be able to file the application electronically.)
Customers leave with a sheet that summarizes their options and reminds them in large print how much their fine could be if they don’t enroll. Americans without heath insurance this year may be assessed a tax penalty in 2015. The fines range from $95 for an individual to $1,800 or more for higher-income families. Fines will increase in subsequent years.
Brian Haile, Jackson Hewitt’s senior vice president for health care policy, said the company decided to provide the enrollment help because its tax preparers would have to help customers with the penalty if they did not enroll. “We don’t take a position on any of this,” he said. “But we asked: How can we be most helpful to our clients?”
Iris Burnell, who runs a Jackson Hewitt office on Capitol Hill, said the new service has been a hit. “People are thrilled to know they are eligible for coverage,” she said.
At Univision News, Stephen Keppel oversees a vast health care campaign that includes TV specials, health features run during popular Saturday soccer broadcasts and community health events hosted by network anchors. The response has exceeded expectations, he said, with viewership for the health specials averaging about 550,000.
“We have seen education as a responsibility,” said Keppel, the network’s director of empowerment initiatives. “That has created a relationship with our audience.”
The Jet City Rollergirls also wanted to educate their fans when the roller derby league decided to help promote Washington’s insurance marketplace with informational tables, public address announcements and other advertising at their bouts, said skater Carolyn Sellar.
“Many of our skaters hadn’t had health insurance,” said Sellar, 38, who goes by Willow Bliterate on the track. “The ability to have affordable medicine and regular doctor visits … for us, that seemed like a pretty amazing thing.”
