Even if the Obama administration succeeds in steering more attention to the successes, like the people with pre-existing conditions who are getting better deals now, that may not make a big difference to the mindset of the majority of Americans who already have health insurance through the workplace, who just want to make sure their own coverage won’t be affected.

Middle-class Americans have now “gotten the impression, rightly or wrongly, that they’re going to be worse off” because of the effort to help sick people, said Robert Blendon, an expert on health care public opinion at Harvard University. “The stories have to be about middle-class people who have better coverage, who are paying less, and who already had coverage prior to Jan. 1. … Those stories may be less exciting, but those are the stories that are going to move the needle.”…

“It’s like the ACA and its benefits have been the best-kept secret in the world,” said Rita Rizzo of Akron, Ohio, who recently gained health coverage with her husband, Lou Vincent, who has been uninsured for nearly a decade because of his pre-existing conditions. “They should have given it to [Edward] Snowden — then we’d get the word out.”