Grid: Individual Mandate
14 October 2010
Goal
Expand public support in your state for health reform and the health law.
Objectives
(1) Inform the public on the law's specific reforms and how the reforms will benefit them/their families
(2) Message proactively on the mandate requirement of the law
(3) Respond to attacks/untruths about the mandate requirement of the law
| Concern/Attack | Key Audiences | Best Messenger(s) | Best Message(s) |
| Mandate and our personal freedoms
"This is big government telling me what I need to do." |
Base; persuadable public (blue collar working women, Latinos, under 40); rural communities; small business owners and employees; legislators and elected officials | Member of the community (representing the 'persuadable' public) with a story of how the law will benefit them; doctors/nurses | Tap into individual responsibility to blunt opposition: "The law asks all of us to take responsibility for our healthcare - and to make our healthcare system fairer and more efficient. Those who choose to play roulette—who are uninsured and use the more costly emergency room for routine care—are increasing costs for the rest of us who have health insurance. These costs put an unfair burden on hard-working taxpayers, as well as the efficiency of our healthcare system." Then move to a personal story that wraps around a benefit(s) of the law: |
| Mandate and affordability
"Government can't make us buy something we can't afford." |
Persuadable public (Latinos, working women, under 40 year olds); small business owners and employees; rural communities; legislators | Member of the community (representing the 'persuadable' public) with a story of how the law will benefit them; small business owners | Tap into individual responsibility to blunt opposition: "Yes the law asks us to take responsibility for our healthcare. But the law also recognizes that many hardworking Americans and many recently unemployed folks just can't afford coverage. That's why the law also provides tax credits and a sliding scale for premiums." Tout the strict affordability protection in the individual mandate (no one has to pay more than 8% of income on health insurance under the law). Then move to a personal story that wraps around a benefit(s) of the law: |
| Mandate and the ability to enforce the law
"What's the sense of passing a law that's impossible to enforce. It's not fair to make someone buy something they don't want and the bureaucracy they will create to tax folks who don't comply is outrageous." |
Base; persuadable public (women, Latinos, seniors, and under 40)); rural communities; small business owners and employees; legislators | Member of the community (representing the 'persuadable' public) with a story of how the law will benefit them; small business owners | Tap into individual responsibility to blunt opposition: "The law has been ruled constitutional by a federal judge and where it has been tried in other states, 97% of the population is now insured and insured people are not paying for the uninsured through their insurance costs. It's about time that people who haven't taken responsibility for their healthcare are asked to step up to the plate." Then move to a personal story that wraps around a benefit(s) of the law:
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