The uninsured healthy and young take good health for granted, are tech-savvy, and have low motivation to enroll in the current health care plan. Marketing plans, therefore, must appeal to them in an easy way that makes it relevant to them. Sage (2011) noted that the problems being discussed related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were related to packaging of the product rather than the contents itself.
With this being said, what can we do to better package and market ACA? Let us now discuss several strategies that mat be of help. First, the marketing plan should appeal to current lifestyles of this target group, such as focusing on injuries and healthcare costs related to activities like athletics and weekend warrior type activities (Mello, Wood, Burris, Wagenaar, Ibrahim, and Swanson, 2013). Any commercials should be brief (think Nike commercials) with a web link and/or twitter handle.
Another strategy could be to use celebrity endorsements of similar ages as the target group, utilizing a catchy slogan that is short and easy for people to remember (Sage, 2011). Then any print advertisement could also use the slogan to reinforce the message. Herd, DeLeire, Harvey and Moynihan, 2013) noted that another important point is that any sign up process should not be a burden, and the website should be tested on a regular basis to discover any design flaws and provide up-to-date information in simple language with robust customer service options in order to help streamline the sign-up process.
Some have suggested that penalties for not registering could help to increase enrollment, however, the concern is that if someone cannot afford the coverage in the first place, a penalty will do very little in the way of enticement (Evans, 2014).
References:
Evans, M. (2014). Hospitals rethink charity for those passing on Obamacare. Modern Healthcare, 44(10), 13-4.
Herd, P., DeLeire, T., Harvey, H., and Moynihan, D. P. (2013). Shifting administrative burden to the state: The Case of Medicaid take-up. Public Administration Review, 73, S69-S80.
Mello, M. M., Wood, J., Burris, S., Wagenaar, A. C., Ibrahim, J. K., and Swanson, J. W. (2013). Critical opportunities for public health Law: A Call for action. American Journal of Public
Health, 103(11), 1979-1988.
Sage, W. M. (2011). Brand new law! The Need to market health care reform. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 159(6), 2121-2146.