HHS stages multimillion-dollar PR campaign to promote ObamaCare
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The federal agency charged with implementing the Affordable Care Act announced a multimillion-dollar public relations contract last week in order to convince people to join the program and keep it from collapsing, critics claimed.
Enrollment in Obamacare's health insurance exchanges is lagging, raising concerns about the viability of the exchanges, which are the law's primary means of delivering health insurance. The bill's congressional architects have warned the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may be unable to establish a functional health insurance marketplace.
HHS announced on Friday it would pay public relations firm Weber Shandwick $8 million to promote enrollment in Obamacare's exchanges.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ben Domenech, a health care expert with the Heartland Institute, said problems with implementation of the law could "scare off" some health care consumers who are already confused by the government-led overhaul of the nation's health care system.
"Obamacare's functional defects are becoming a liability, and the train wreck is getting closer, so the administration wants to get as many people dependent on it as fast as possible when it launches, whether the exchanges and other systems are ready for them or not," Domenech told the Washington Free Beacon.