Just as the U.S. Supreme Court this week heard arguments about the constitutionality of the federal Affordable Care Act, several Northeast Ohio foundations have banded together to provide nonpartisan, consumer-friendly information to help citizens navigate this complex new law.

The public education effort takes place as liberal and conservative groups across the country launch a fight not only over the constitutionality of the law, but also over how it's perceived by the general public. While the Obama campaign and other Democratic groups are trying to demonstrate how the law is already improving people's lives, Republican groups, on the other hand, are trying to cast the law as a job-killing, top-down mandate.

For Kim St. John-Stevenson of the Saint Luke's Foundation, ensuring that ordinary citizens have the information they need to navigate this complex law -- which will affect their lives, whether they know it yet or not -- is by far the most important objective.

"There's a huge education gap, and we need to be proactive about plugging that gap," says St. John-Stevenson. "Whether you like the legislation or not, right now it's the law of the land, and it's in everybody's best interests to understand it."

The new website, www.affordablecareactneo.org, was launched by the George Gund Foundation, Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation and Saint Luke's Foundation. Modeled after a similar effort in Cincinnati, it provides information about costs, private insurance, Medicare, mental health coverage, coverage for kids and more.

The website is available in English and Spanish, and there is also a wallet card that can be printed out. The foundations will be working over the coming months to spread the word about the website through their nonprofit partnerships.

Source: Kim St. John-Stevenson
Writer: Lee Chilcote