White House allies prepare for Supreme Court Obamacare decision

Whatever the Supreme Court decides about the Affordable Care Act next month, White House allies are developing their response strategy, focusing both on building support for the law and on the popular provision and doing it with a rapid response. That's according to a strategy memo written by Health Care for America Now and obtained by Buzzfeed.

"We should prepare advocates and activists who will participate in rapid response for an outcome that is mixed, muddled or even negative with a coordinated message with the public," the memo reads. The response should:

' Highlight the impact on people who benefit from the ACA;
' Simplify the outcome so average folks understand what happened and why;
' Avoids delving into arcane legal explanations or speculation on policy implications;
' Celebrates what we won and highlights the political agenda behind takeaways or lost benefits.

Hopefully there will be something to celebrate in the decision, but in the case that there is not, advocates for health care reform will be ready to let the nation know what has been lost. To that end, they suggest having real people who have benefited from the law to talk about it.

' Teachers who can talk about the impact of the decision on the future of kids;
' Docs/Nurses/Providers who can talk about impact on patients;
' Small Business People;
' State Legislators and other State Elected Officials who can talk about state impact;
' 'Experts," Academics and Advocates who are recognized authorities and will draw media attention;
' Hospital Administrators or Board Members, Community Health Center Directors, Nursing Home or Home Health Agency Administrators, etc. who can talk about jobs and services lost or gained.

The key, says HCAN, is preparing now for whatever eventuality occurs. Given the continued lack of popularity of the law, it might be tough to change minds. The focus on the the popular provisions of the law and on the fact that it has already helped people could help politically, however. The Republicans do or don't have a plan for dealing with the health care crisis in America, depending on who you ask and what day of the week it is. Pointing out what's been lost, now that the pressure is on them to fix it, could help refocus the electorate on the Republicans' real lack of a plan for governing.