Obviously: White House meets with celebs on how they can help promote ObamaCare to young people

When it comes to persuading young people between the ages of eighteen and about thirty five that they should voluntarily shoulder the higher costs of the inherently riskier insurance pools being peddled to them through the auspices of ObamaCare — without whose participation the system’s already rising costs will skyrocket all the further — the usual dry, boring government stuff just isn’t going to cut it. They’ve been looking for some pizazz with their advertising and “education” campaign, but the Obama administration’s grand idea to get the NFL’s endorsement turned out to be a bust, and while the musical festivals/coffee cups/airplane banners-gag might be a fairly effective strategy, it’s still keeping things pretty regional. They need to go big, and quickly.

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I’ve been wondering whether President Obama was going to enlist the help of all of the Hollywood fandom that’s surely been pent up since the conclusion of his second presidential campaign, and lo and behold:

At a meeting at the White House Monday, a group that included singer Jennifer Hudson and actors Kal Penn and Amy Poehler heard Obama extol the benefits his health care law offers young people, whose participation in the exchanges is seen as essential for their long-term viability.

“The President stopped by the meeting to engage artists who expressed an interest in helping to educate the public about the benefits of the health law,” a White House official said. “The reach of these national stars spreads beyond the beltway to fans of their television shows, movies, and music – and the power of these artists to speak through social media is especially critical.”

The meeting, which was led by Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, also included representatives for Oprah Winfrey, Alicia Keys, Bon Jovi, YouTube Comedy, Funny or Die and the organizations that put on the annual Grammy and Latin Grammy awards.

Yes, by all means, super-cool TV stars and musicians, tell the many young people still living at home on their parents’ couches, and/or struggling to begin their careers or to find more than merely part time work, why they should pay thousands more dollars for a health care plan they neither want nor need. Sounds awesome.

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It is absolutely not a secret that ObamaCare needs millions of young, healthy people with relatively few and inexpensive health care needs to pay for the program’s ballooning costs and subsidize others’ insurance, and it sounds like the administration is looking to get their groove back with some help from his famous pop-culture allies. Goody.

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Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | November 21, 2024
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