Healthcare reform law’s backers hope to reclaim ‘ObamaCare’ label

Supporters of the healthcare reform law launched a new campaign Monday to reclaim the term “ObamaCare” and highlight the law’s benefits.

Two Colorado-based groups created the website “thanks Obamacare,” which outlines provisions such as the ban on insurers discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. There’s also a “thanks, Obamacare” Twitter account.

{mosads}“ ‘ObamaCare’ has been turned into a pretty dirty word,” said Serena Woods, director of Strategic Engagement at the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, which helped create the new campaign.

Woods said there’s no reason to run away from the law’s policies or the “ObamaCare” moniker.

The term is used almost exclusively as an indictment of the healthcare law, and supporters don’t have a competing buzzword. They usually just refer to the law as the Affordable Care Act, a truncated version of its legal name.

The “thanks, Obamacare” campaign isn’t the first time supporters have tried to reclaim the word. President Obama still doesn’t describe the law as “ObamaCare,” though he has toyed with the term on the campaign trail.

“They call it ‘ObamaCare’?’” Obama said at a recent fundraiser. “I do care! You should care, too.”