THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

The Federal government is going directly to the people who need to know about healthcare with the help of one of the largest private insurers.

A custom-built bus with oversized windows is parked outside a health fair at the University Medical Center. The decal on its side reads, “Making Healthcare Reform Transparent.” Inside the bus are snacks, Wi-Fi and three booths where sales agents from the Humana health-insurance company sit behind laptops and explain the Affordable Care Act to uninsured people. They sign up customers, too.

Mississippi is the poorest, sickest state in the nation, and most insurance companies have avoided it altogether, preferring to do business in more profitable markets. In 36 of Mississippi’s poorest counties, no insurance companies were offering plans that meet ACA guidelines until the Obama administration intervened and asked Kentucky-based Humana to help fill in the gaps. Humana had two of these buses built to spread awareness and drum up business. They’re zigzagging around the state on a tour called Covering Mississippi. So far they’ve traveled 7,000 miles, and the agents have seen more than a thousand people.

“We’ve been going to malls, drugstores, churches, community halls, Walmarts, you name it,” says Stacey Carter, Humana’s sales director for Mississippi. “Sometimes it’s a gas station, because out in the rural areas that’s where people congregate. A lot of them don’t have Internet, so the Wi-Fi is essential. But education has been the first priority.

Chris Taylor, a 58-year-old Walmart employee, climbs aboard the bus because he’s heard that health insurance is now mandatory. He’s never had insurance before and can’t remember the last time he went to a doctor. Humana sales agent Ezsma Holmes welcomes him into a booth. She spends about 20 minutes asking him questions and entering the information into her laptop. Then she hits “save and continue” for the final time, taps her fingernail for a few moments and breaks into a smile.

She turns her screen to show Taylor the results. Thanks to a subsidy from the federal government, a silver plan will cost him only 55 cents a month, with a $95 deductible. All he has to do is click “accept” on the email that she’s sending him and pay the first 55 cents by bank card or money order. Taylor doesn’t have a computer, but he gets email on his phone. She asks him to check the phone now and he says, “Need to put some credit on that one. But I’ll do it. Fifty-five cents a month? So far, so good.”

Keeping people in the dark is the Republican strategy and what they don't know can hurt them very badly.