It’s About Propaganda. And Campaigning.
HHS this afternoon released another mass e-mail, entitled “It’s About Louisa.” The e-mail – which highlights the supposed value of Obamacare’s small business tax credit – claims it is part of “an initiative to educate Americans about new programs, benefits, and rights under the health care law.”
This e-mail raises several obvious concerns:
- This week’s GAO report on the small business tax credit – which includes quotes from business owners who didn’t claim the credit because it was too small, and too bureaucratic, to make a difference for their struggling firm – concluded the program was generally ineffective and cumbersome. Will the Administration also “educate” people that a non-partisan watchdog agency concluded this “benefit” of the law was not particularly helpful to small businesses?
- Coming on the heels of Monday’s news that Porter Novelli received a new $20 million contract to promote Obamacare, it appears these “educational” efforts – at a time when the federal government faces trillion-dollar deficits – are curiously timed to publicize Obamacare while the President is running for re-election. (Related question: How many of these “educational” campaigns will remain in place AFTER November 6…?)
- If HHS wants to “educate Americans” about the new “benefits” of the law, does the Administration also plan to “educate” Americans about the new tax increases under Obamacare? For instance, will the IRS be writing homeowners to tell them they could owe new taxes on the sale of their homes once Obamacare’s latest round of tax increases takes effect in January?
Also of note, as part of this “educational” campaign, HHS is promoting a new “MyCare” hashtag on Twitter. Which could result in many tweets such as these:
- #MyCare is more expensive, because premiums haven’t gone down like #Obama promised. http://bit.ly/GLMlmL
- I lost #MyCare, because I couldn’t keep my plan under @hhsgov regulations. http://1.usa.gov/fSVgrZ
- Raising taxes $500 billion won’t help #MyCare – it will just kill jobs. http://bit.ly/hEFA3l
- As a senior, #MyCare will get worse – because #Obama raided Medicare to fund #Obamacare. http://bit.ly/vs5egX
Tweets and e-mails aside, one simple fact remains: On Obamacare, regardless of what the Administration is selling, the American people ain’t buying.