Role reversal: GOP members dispense Obamacare advice

Republican lawmakers have spent the past three years blasting Obamacare, but now they have a new role: helping people sign up for it.

It?s a role reversal that puts party politics at odds with constituent service. Even Obamacare?s most strident opponents say that if people call their offices looking for help when enrollment starts in October, they?ll direct their staff to assist.

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?We always provide people with the best information that?s available to us. We always try to cut red tape,? said Rep. Steve King of Iowa, perhaps the House?s most vocal Obamacare critic. If someone asks for assistance, ?we?re not going to shut people out of information. We?re not going to make their life more difficult. Obamacare?s bad enough to have to live under.?

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Obamacare is at a turning point. For three years it?s been an abstraction. But enrollment starts in October, and come January, millions of Americans will be covered. And members of Congress expect the phones to start ringing with confused constituents.

Republicans are anticipating even more questions now that the White House has delayed enforcement of the employer mandate for one year, which may make a confused public even more confused.

?It?s going to be hard to answer questions with the kind of uncertainty that these delays create. That?s why it would be better if you had a permanent delay,? said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who added that his office will help constituents the best it can back home ? while he joins a reinvigorated Republican drive in Washington to halt it.

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GOP lawmakers won?t go out and sell Obamacare. But they?ll answer questions.

To prepare, Republican congressional staffers have been participating in calls and meetings hosted by Obama administration officials to inform them about the basics of the law, such as how enrollment will work, who will be eligible and how to sign up. The events have been open to Democrats, as well.

Republican lawmakers have not had the regular sessions the Democrats have had with administration officials on how to roll out the law most effectively. Nor have they requested help with public education events from organizations like AARP, which did a lot of bipartisan outreach when Medicare drug coverage began, said David Certner, the legislative policy director of AARP.

Unsurprisingly, Republican lawmakers interviewed by POLITICO didn?t talk about hosting educational events or town halls to advertise the benefits as many Democrats plan to do. They won?t do anything that proactive. But they aren?t going to slam down the phone if a constituent wants to know how to get to the right website or phone number. They?ll help, just like they do when constituents ask about Social Security or Medicare.

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It?s a far more muted approach than the one Democrats took in 2006, when the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit kicked in with a dizzying menu of choices that confused seniors. Many Democrats who opposed the Medicare law enacted under former President George W. Bush left their political sentiments in Washington and went back home to teach their constituents about the benefits, which include subsidies for low-income seniors.

Source: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/gop-members-dispense-obamacare-advice-93982.html

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