The Republican's campaign to vilify the Affordable Care Act may keep millions from accessing its benefits.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

After surviving a Supreme Court decision and a presidential election, the Obama administration’s health-care law faces another challenge: a public largely unaware of major changes that will roll out in the coming months. 

States are rushing to decide whether to build their own health exchanges and the administration is readying final regulations, but a growing body of research suggests that most low-income Americans who will become eligible for subsidized insurance have no idea what’s coming. 

Part of the problem, experts say, is that people who will be affected don’t realize the urgency because the subsidies won’t begin for another year. But policy decisions are being made now that will affect tens of millions of Americans, and the lack of public awareness could jeopardize a system that depends on having many people involved. Low enrollment could lead to higher premiums, health policy experts say. Hospitals worry that, without widespread participation, they will continue getting stuck with patients’ unpaid medical bills. And advocates say the major purpose of the Affordable Care Act – extending health insurance to more Americans – will go unmet if large numbers of vulnerable people don’t take advantage of it. 

But because “Obamacare” has been so controversial, and its fate caught up in the presidential campaign, there has been little public discussion about the specifics of putting it into action. States such as Texas and Florida, where opposition to the legislation was strong, have been slow to embrace the law and critics have been loath to promote it. 

Initial White House efforts at outreach caused congressional Republicans to accuse the administration of using taxpayer money for political gain. In mid-November, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) subpoenaed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, demanding information about how her agency has used federal money to promote the Affordable Care Act. The administration is preparing a final budget for an outreach program focused on the opening of the exchanges in October. 

“People hear it’s going to come in 2014, which makes it not very relevant to their lives,” said Tevi Troy, a top Health and Human Services official under President George W. Bush. “If you don’t have an understanding of the law, that’s when you’re going to have real take-up problems.” 

Seventy-eight percent of the uninsured Americans who are likely to qualify for subsidies were unfamiliar with the new coverage options in a survey by Democratic polling firm Lake Research Partners. That survey, sponsored by the nonprofit Enroll America, also found that 83 percent of those likely to qualify for the expansion of Medicaid, which is expected to cover 12 million Americans, were unaware of the option.

This is directly the result of the attacks on the programs from the Republican party, who realize that if people sign up for, and start to benefit from, Obamacare THEY  may find themselves no longer a politically viable party.

After all how do you run against a party that has rescued millions of voters from fear of sickness and death, as you did everything in your power to stop them from from providing that rescue?

This is very important information that I hope you will spread far and wide, because the sad part is as long as people DON'T recognize its benefits those benefits might be significantly impaired or simply disappear altogether.

You know what to do.