States marketing 'ObamaCare' with other names to bolster enrollment

FILE: July 2, 2013: A Tea Party member reaches for a pamphlet on the impact of ObamaCare, at a rally in Littleton, New Hampshire. (REUTERS)

States running their own insurance programs as part of the Affordable Care Act have marketing and enrollment strategies that are sidestepping references to the words “ObamaCare,” a term that has largely come to be associated with the unpopularity of the plan.

In Minnesota, state employees are promoting their health insurance marketplace as MNsure -- even going to the annual state fair to hand out fans imprinted with pictures of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The grassroots effort is part of a larger, $9 million marketing effort that includes billboards and TV ads.

Minnesota, one of 13 states and the District of Columbia that is running its own health insurance marketplaces, thinks its marketing efforts will  increase enrollment, which begins Oct. 1.

ObamaCare was designed to provide coverage to Americans who don't have it from their employer or elsewhere. However, the rollout of the program, which begins January 1, has had some setbacks, including the delay of the provision requiring businesses to provide insurance.

And a small but vocal group of congressional Republicans are trying to "defund" ObamaCare before next month.

Vermont is scheduled this week to run radio and TV ads touting its exchange, Vermont Health Connect, as being "For Vermonters, By Vermonters."

Oregon’s program features local musicians singing songs including "Long Live Oregonians."

National polls show the public is wary about ObamaCare, including a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released last week that showed 42 percent of Americans disapprove of the law, compared to 37 percent favoring it.

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