Imagine swiping through singles on Tinder and then seeing your mom or dad’s face with a sign that says “Get Health Insurance.” Because, you know, that’s not creepy at all.
The Rhode Island Obamacare exchange HealthSource RI has provided a “NAG toolkit” encouraging parents to get on popular social media utilities and “nag” their kids about signing up for health insurance. Hardly any medium is spared: the toolkit has tutorials teaching parents how to effectively nag their children via Snapchat, Vine, Twitter and OkCupid, in addition to Tinder.
“Your kids don’t want to get health insurance. They also don’t want to get nagged,” a message on the toolkit’s website reads. “Let’s find out which one they want less. Help us get your kids insured by nagging them about health insurance where they least expect it.”
Nightmare.
Some examples of the stalking methods the site recommends to parents are to create a Tinder profile through Facebook and add a profile picture holding a sign that says “Get Health Insurance,” and then “Like” the same things as their children on Facebook to increase their Tinder compatibility. For OkCupid, the NAG toolkit recommends that parents create a provocative username for their profile, find his or her children, and send them messages saying “Get Health Insurance.”
For the technologically challenged parent, the site leaves a final option to enter their child’s email address.
“If this all seems too confusing, give us your kid’s email address and we’ll do the nagging,” the site reads.
The Rhode Island example is yet another direct appeal to parents — in particular, moms — to get their kids to enroll through an Affordable Care Act exchange. Obamacare’s financial health depends on attracting a large number of youth to help offset the costs of older, sicker patients. However, only a quarter of signups thus far have come from those between the ages of 18 and 35, far below the 38 percent target the administration had initially set.
(h/t Campus Reform)
