Now that the Supreme Court has ruled on PPACA, we need our president to speak to the American people and explain what this means.
One of our big and frustrating problems has been that strong majorities of Americans are in favor of every provision of PPACA except for the individual mandate -- which makes them all possible -- and at the same time no more than half of voters has ever expressed support for the bill as a whole. This is surely an informational problem. People who don't follow this closely,
.... or who get their health-economics information from Bill O'Reilly....
don't understand what the bill does. People think it has something to do with slashing Medicare, or strangling small business, or getting hardworking me to foot the bill for "those people's" healthcare. A couple of polls have even indicated that a majority of voters already thought the whole bill had been thrown out by the courts by now.
But now, with all of the attention focussed on this issue, we have a golden opportunity. The president should announce a special televised event to explain the implications of this ruling to the people. He should make a brief opening remark, surrounded by ordinary people whose lives depend on PPACA, people with pre-existing conditions, people without blue-ribbon jobs, self-employed or working for small employers, young people, and go to each one in turn and ask them to explain what a difference this decision to uphold the law will make in their lives.
(For example, this powerful testimony.)
Once put in these terms, the tide of public opinion will turn forcefully in favor of the bill, and the people who put it together.
But it has to be now. This is why I say: Mr. President, please spike this ball.
