by Tom Gallagher
"Insurers join former adversaries to publicize health law."
This headline was a bit startling to read, but cause for some optimism. Finally, the health insurance industry is getting behind the Affordable Care Act and putting real money into enrolling the uninsured.
Aetna Inc. (AET) and other insurers that initially fought President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul are reversing course and supporting the effort by funding a group planning to spend $100 million to help the uninsured get coverage.
Enroll America, a nonprofit created two years ago, has gathered support from the insurers that opposed the law and consumer organizations such as Washington-based Families USA that supported it. The new organization plans a broad-based educational campaign to make uninsured people aware of the health-care law's benefits and help them sign up, said Ron Pollack, Enroll America's chairman.
The group will reach out to the 43 million uninsured whose participation will help strengthen the funding formula that holds the 2010 Affordable Care Act together. The new customers are expected to help offset added costs for the insurers from new regulations and taxes included in the law.
"Business people in the end have to be pragmatic," Robert Laszewski, a health insurance industry consultant based in Alexandria, Virginia, said of the companies' efforts to help the law succeed. "The industry has gotten over it."
Will the U.S. bishops and the USCCB staff?
