How Not To Message: Communications 101

Neil Siegel, a former special counsel to Joe Biden and supporter of ObamaCare/Affordable Care Act, was on WUNC’s The State of Things on Wednesday discussing recent appellate litigation involving the subsidies authorized by the Act. The DC Circuit ruled Monday that subsidies are illegal in states that did not set up their own insurance exchanges. North Carolina is one of those states. The Fourth Circuit, in which North Carolina is located, found otherwise.

The discussion on the radio program was about the conflicting decisions, and how they’ll impact the law. More about the decisions can be found here.

I’m not sure which appellate court is right or wrong, but I did think that Siegel’s description of the Affordable Care Act and the litigation challenging it was hilariously bad, especially because he apparently is a supporter of the law.

The host, Frank Stasio, asked: “If the DC Circuit opinion is upheld and it becomes essentially the final say on this, it essentially un-does the Affordable Care Act, doesn’t it?”

Siegel responded: “Well… the image that comes to mind is that scene at the end of Star Wars where Luke Skywalker has to make the perfect shot to blow up the Death Star. This [referring to the litigation challenging ObamaCare] is that perfect shot that threatens to blow up the Affordable Care Act.”