MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2010


KLMNO


EZ SU THE FED PAGE


Does health-care law need title reform?


PPACA by any other name would sound sweeter, some say


BY MARILYN SERAFINI Kaiser Health News


Puh-pack-uh? Is that some


kind of llama? In fact, it’s the ungainly acro-


nym of the new health-care law — PPACA, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Many people who support the law, or are neutral toward it, call it “puh-pack-uh” or “pee-pack-uh.” Others call it the Affordable Care Act or plain old health-care re- form. But those less-than-inspiring


monikers aren’t much help to Democrats trying to convince the public that “Obamacare” — the Republicans’ pejorative name for the law — is worth keeping, said Robert J. Blendon, a professor of health policy and political analy- sis at the Harvard School of Public Health. Democratic pollsters concede


that there is a problem. “We do need a common narra-


tive that includes a name,” said Celinda Lake, president of Lake Research Partners. “When Obama’s job performance im- proves, it will be fine to call it Obamacare. Now, it is polariz- ing.” Mark Mellman, another Dem-


ocratic pollster, says that the title Patient Protection and Account- able Care Act highlights impor- tant aspects of the law, but that


RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST


President Obama speaks to theHouse Democratic Caucus inMarch to gain support for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.


“It’s wonky, clunky language.”


—Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster, talking about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is the official name of the health-care reform law.


“it’s wonky, clunky language.” Names of legislation, he said,


should “summarize something important for people to organize their thinking.” Indeed, constructing catchy-


sounding acronyms for legisla- tion, as well as other things, is a long tradition on Capitol Hill. In the early 1990s, Sen. John


Chafee (R-R.I.) announced his health-care bill would be called the HEART Act. Asked by a reporter what HEART stood for, Chafee said he would figure it out later; the important thing was getting people to start using the warm-and-fuzzy acronym. In 1999, Sen. James M. Jeffords (R-Vt.) gave the Education and Labor Committee a new name —


the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, or HELP. These days, White House offi-


cials generally refer to the new health-care lawas the Affordable Care Act. Blendon says that doesn’t help Democrats much because “people don’t believe the law will make health care more affordable.” Mellman agrees that there is a


widespread view that costs are on the rise because of the law — even though supporters say that view is inaccurate. “Members of Congress are


hearing it right and left,” he said. “People’s premiums went up last year and [Democrats] said it had nothing to dowith the bill.When


EnjoyExceptional Year EndOffers During the Mercedes-Benz Winter Event


BRENDAN HOFFMAN/GETTY IMAGES


People gather outside the Capitol inMarch to protest the health-care reform legislation. “There wasn’t nearly enough


they went up this year, people said, ‘Hah!’ and they linked it [to the law], even though there prob- ably was no connection.” So how, exactly, did the law


end up with a handle like “puh- pack-uh”? Creators of the lawdid pay some attention to its name, Mellman said, but in the end, it was designed by committee. To satisfy more people, the name became long and inclusive, giv- ing it less of a chance to catch on and be used, he added. And that opened the door to “puh-pack- uh,” health-care reform and the Affordable Care Act. “This was amissed opportuni-


ty,” said Lake, noting that the name problemis symptomatic of a broader problemamongDemo- crats on health-care overhaul.


branding of health-care reform,” she said. “Because of that, we paid the price throughout the whole debate.” Now, the branding “has to be


done through the prismof repeal and replace,” she said. “It’s a Republican message, and we have to do our message through the prismof that.” Republicans, for their part, are


satisfied with their “Obamacare” branding. GOP pollster Bill McInturff, partner at Public Opinion Strategies, asked voters in September whether the term “Obamacare” was a net negative, and 10 percent said that it was somewhat negative; 37 percent said that it was very negative. Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-


Tex.),who is pushing for repeal of the law, said that calling it the Affordable Care Act is a misno- mer. “I even had an amendment to


strike the word affordable from the bill’s title, but I didn’t get anywhere with it,” he said. As for “puh-pack-uh”? That, he


said, “kind of reminds me of those peoplewho invested heavi- ly in those llama-like animals.”


Kaiser Health News (www.kaiser healthnews.org) is an editorially independent news service of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health-care policy organization that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.


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