The Health Care Decision

SUMMARY: Congratulations, America! The Supreme Court just upheld the health care law as constitutional. Now's our chance to communicate exactly what the law means.

CORE MESSAGE

Supreme Court upholds health care law: No more free riders and insurance companies can't rip us off.

Define the decision: The most conservative Supreme Court in history just upheld the health care law as constitutional.

Focus on people: This is a victory for American families. It means lower costs, more coverage, and insurance companies can't rip us off anymore. It's the law.

Affirm Constitution: Health care costs are a national crisis. The Court affirmed that our Constitution empowers our elected leaders to create national solutions.

Affirm the law: They affirmed that the "individual mandate" is a constitutional free rider fee that you don't pay if you already have health insurance. The Court agreed that the rest of us shouldn't keep paying for free riders.

Contrast: Republican politicians and their corporate funders have wasted taxpayer time and hundreds of millions of dollars attacking the law -- and they've vowed to keep doing so.

Bottom line: Obamacare protects us against free riders, reins in insurance companies, and it's upheld by the Constitution. It's time to move forward.

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ATTACKS AND RESPONSES

FALSE ATTACK: "The 'individual mandate' is a massive tax hike!"

GO ON OFFENSE

Seriously? This is coming from Mitt Romney and Republicans in Congress who have all endorsed a tax plan to make you pay MORE taxes so the richest few can pay LESS.
The truth is, the Court's decision to uphold Obamacare will result in the largest health care tax cut in American history, with families and small businesses benefiting the most.
Are they prepared to attack Romneycare as a tax on the people of Massachusetts, too?

REFRAME

The "individual mandate" is really just a free rider fee for people who can afford health care but would rather stick the rest of us with the bill.
Having health insurance is and will continue to be a choice. But for those who can afford insurance and choose not to buy it, the Court said it's constitutional to charge them a fee so the rest of us don't have to pay for their care for free.

DEBUNK

The "individual mandate" doesn't impact anyone who already has health insurance. And for those who can't afford it, there's help.
So a tiny percentage of free riders -- between just 2 and 5 percent of Americans -- will pay a small fee, while millions of families and small business owners that take responsibility for their care will get tax credits.

RESOURCES

For Attacks & Responses, click here: How To Beat Health Care Attacks.

For messaging on what Obamacare really does and means, see Reclaiming "Obamacare" and Women and Obamacare.

Messaging on the mandate itself is available here: Demystifying the Mandate. (It's really just a free-rider fee.)

For messaging on the stakes for ordinary Americans, see What Americans Stand to Lose.

Here are quotes and real world stories to share: Faces Behind the Statistics.

We develop messaging by aggregating, analyzing and distilling polling, tested messaging, and expert recommendations, and monitoring the media to identify what is and isn't working. See here for some of the experts and organizations we draw on.