Nahla Kayali is a foot soldier for Obamacare.
o sign up. Some are paid through federal grants or by private organizations, while others are volunteers. Hospital staff, already schooled in helping uninsured patients determine whether they are eligible for government programs like Medicaid, are expected to lend a hand.
California is spending $140 million on enrolling consumers and small business owners for the state’s new health care exchange, including $86 million worth of advertising time, said Dana Howard, a spokesman for the Covered California exchange.
The ad campaign will roll out during the fall, Howard said, so the information is fresh in consumers’ minds as enrollment begins in October.
Along with television, newspaper and website ads, it will include social media campaigns on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, he said. When they hit the streets, however, they may meet considerable obstacles, from the political to the personal.
Kayali expects to find resistance from Arab immigrants who fear government assistance could make them vulnerable to corrupt politicians — as they might have been in their home countries.
“They’re afraid it might affect their legality, and they are afraid the government will want something from them in return,” she said.
It was to learn how to deal with such skepticism — among other obstacles — that Kayali and several hundred other non-profit administrators sat in a medical center training office in a Los Angeles suburb last week.
“Never make any political representation in any presentation,” trainer Laquetta Shamblee told the group. “We don’t make political statements even if we have a political opinion.”
Shamblee also admonished trainees to keep their groups’ political materials — on immigration, Middle East policy or other issues — away from events where they promote the Affordable Care Act, along with any statements about the law or Obama.
“Everybody has a cell phone, and we don’t want to be on ‘60 Minutes,’” she said.
Shamblee, who has a background in health care advocacy, said the state is not offering trainees lessons in how to counter potential opponents who might approach them at schools, churches or other places they set up tables. They are being advised not to engage in potentially inflammatory talk at all, but simply provide factual information about how to get health insurance through the exchange.
“Once people get the details, if it’s something that benefits their families they will look into it,” she said.
In Los Angeles County, Tina Wong will field a team of Spanish-speaking ambassadors going door-to-door to offer information to Latino consumers.
Like Kayali, she expects to find resistance: In Los Angeles County, 11 percent of the adult population is undocumented — ineligible to purchase insurance from the exchange and at risk of deportation if their status becomes known. That may prevent many families from signing up — even if some loved ones, including US-born children, are eligible.
“Our biggest obstacle will be fear among parents who are undocumented to enroll their children,” said Wong.
She is acutely aware of how divided American families may be about the law, as her husband, a Republican, staunchly opposes Obamacare and believes that the uninsured should not rely on the government for health coverage.
Obamacare’s foot soldiers train to enroll the masses
