Top officials in the Obama administration are starting a final push to get people enrolled in Obamacare, with less than three weeks remaining before the deadline.
Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, will hold a call Wednesday with community college administrators to try to enlist their support in final efforts leading to the Feb. 15 deadline. Another 2.5 million enrollments are needed to meet the Congressional Budget Office’s forecast for Obamacare signups, although the administration has said it is aiming for 9 to 9.9 million.
Last week the White House hosted advocates and youth groups to brainstorm for ideas on how to persuade young people to sign up for health insurance on the exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. Newly confirmed Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is traveling to more than a dozen cities to meet with local officials, partly to ask them to spread the news about the law.
Many of the efforts are aimed at Americans younger than age 35, who are needed to balance out the risk in the insurance pools. Last year many feared that there wouldn’t be enough young, healthy people in the Affordable Care Act’s new insurance marketplaces. About 28 percent of 2014 enrollees fit the highly coveted demographic.
Advocates for the law are dubbing Thursday “National Youth Enrollment Day,” holding more than 200 events throughout the country this week at bars, parks and other locations to convince young Americans to sign up.
“I wanted to take a break to join you for this call because of how important coverage is,” Murthy said on a call hosted Tuesday by Young Invincibles, a group that formed in 2009 partly to publicize the Affordable Care Act. “Health is really our source of strength as individuals, as a community and as a country.”
Acknowledging that people tend to wait until the last minute, officials and advocates say they expect a huge uptick in the number of enrollments right before the deadline, which happened last year.
In 2014, 47 percent of enrollees selected a marketplace plan during the final month of open enrollment. The trend was especially true for adults ages 18 through 34, with more than half waiting until the last month to sign up.
Total enrollments in both the state and federal-run exchanges has hit 9.5 million, the Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday. That exceeds the Obama administration’s minimum goal but falls short of the CBO’s 12 million estimate.
Advocates hope more young adults enroll than last year. About one-quarter of enrollees so far are adults ages 18 to 34, according to the latest numbers from HHS.
“We’re on track but we also know that young people are going to wait until the last minute,” said Jen Mishory, executive director of Young Invincibles.
Last March, as the first enrollment period was winding down, President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, Cabinet members and senior administration officials fanned out to push Obamacare at forums they hoped would maximize their message.
Biden appeared on “The View,” while Michelle Obama touted the law on “The Tonight Show.” Even White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough made a rare appearance on two sports stations.
The White House didn’t respond to a question Tuesday about where the Obamas, Biden and other officials might tout the law this year.
CORRECTION: Jill Biden — not her husband, Vice President Joe Biden — held the Jan. 28 call with community college administrators regarding the Affordable Care Act. The Washington Examiner regrets the error. This story has been updated to reflect this change.
