Campaign Action
This is quite possibly the most momentous week of 2017, and much of what's coming down is pretty darned awful. But there's one extremely significant issue where the resistance can make a difference: we can help get people who need insurance enrolled. This week is it, the final chance to show Trump and the Republicans that we'll fight for the law with our pocketbooks.
For millions of people in the 39 states that depend on Healthcare.gov for open enrollment, the deadline to sign for health insurance for 2018 is Friday, Dec. 15.
“This week is the entire ball game,” the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Larry Levitt told TPM. “A growing enrollment means a healthier risk pool. Declining enrollment means a sicker risk pool. What happens this week will also determine the political narrative about whether the ACA is succeeding or failing.” […]
“The big wild card is how big a surge there will be,” Levitt said.
One reason there could be an even larger surge than in previous years, he added, is the “widespread availability of cheaper plans for people who are uninsured”—an unexpected side-effect of Trump’s attempt to upend the individual market by cutting off subsidies to insurance companies earlier this year. The president’s constant disparagement of Obamacare could also backfire, and have the effect of reminding people that the law exists and is under attack, and spurring higher enrollment.
"We’ll only see a massive wave of enrollment if people actually know that December 15 is the deadline," Levitt says. "With a massive decline in outreach and near silence from senior administration officials, it's not at all clear we're going to see a wave." It's all about the wave. We're not going to be able to get 5 million people signed up in the next three-and-a-half days, but we can sure as hell try.
Use all the tools at your disposal to let anyone who might need to know about this deadline that they've got just a few more days