It went largely unnoticed and (remarkably) underreported recently that the United States Chamber of Commerce did a sudden about-face in its position on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 
The Chamber, which represents more than 3 million business interests across the country, had been steadfast in its disdain for the ACA since it first became law nearly four years ago. Now, it will instead work to correct what it views as the legislation’s major flaws.
“It was three years ago this month, during his annual State of American Business address, that the Chamber’s president and CEO, Tom Donahue, labeled the ACA ‘unworkable’ and called for its repeal,” Elliot Kass wrote recently in the “HIX” section of Employee Benefit News.com. “During last week’s address he softened his views, calling instead for business-friendly adjustments to the new law.”
At WordWrite, we’re not here to say I told you so, but . . . we told you so. Our deep experience following the law and working with those who analyze the developments in health care reform since 2010 long ago led us to conclude that the ACA was here to stay – so employers, employees and companies that advise businesses and workers had better prepare for it.
Tom Tomczyk is a health care consultant in the Pittsburgh office of global HR advisor Buck Consultants, a long time client of WordWrite’s. He has nearly 40 years of experience in the health care field. In an opinion piece for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette nearly 16 months ago – weeks before the 2012 presidential election – he wrote, “Although there could be delays and further guidance on how the law will be implemented, the runners have left the starting line and are close to the finish. The Supreme Court decision might have delayed the end of the race, but regardless of how business leaders or politicians feel personally, employers would be wise to plan for how they will comply with the law.”
Bottom line: The law was going to live in some way, shape or form then, and that’s exactly what has come to pass. That’s why the Chamber’s executive director, Katie Mahoney, was able to so quickly defend her organization’s U-turn on the law. “The landscape is very different (from four years ago),” she told HIX. “We’ve been through the Supreme Court decision, we’ve been through another election, and the President is going to be in office for another three years and this is his signature domestic policy. So I think to say otherwise would be irrational.”
Therefore, it’s time to embrace the fact that real business opportunities exist within this new landscape. As strategic communications consultants, the members of our team at WordWrite can find opportunities for clients in the health care, accounting, financial advising, human resources and legal professions to educate businesses and workers on how the law will impact them.
In spite of wall-to-wall media coverage, many companies both large and small still can’t make heads or tails of the ACA. For these businesses and their employees, health care reform has real consequences. Who should people trust to communicate those implications?
If you’re in the business or want to be in the business of advising companies and workers about the impact of the ACA, then your experts need to be the ones the media look to for guidance in their coverage. We’re communicating the historic impact of health care reform to our contacts in the news every day. Our efforts have resulted in placements, interviews and coverage for clients in markets across the east coast and Midwest, as well as in op-ed, blogging and inbound marketing strategic initiatives developed collaboratively on their behalf.
Our clients have the answers. They need to be sharing their insight on how to comply with the law, get ahead of what they perceive to be its more onerous provisions and, put simply, make the best of it. WordWrite can help ensure that your ability to educate companies on the many layers of health care reform doesn’t go unnoticed and that your services continue to be in high demand.
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Jeremy Church is an account supervisor for WordWrite Communications. He can be reached at jeremy.church@wordwritepr.com and on Twitter @churchjeremy.
