Health Law Outreach Efforts Try New Enrollment Tactics, Controversial Ads
Colorado officials launch controversial ads geared toward women and Enroll America changes how it tries to get people to sign up for health coverage. In the meantime, Republicans are releasing their own set of ads mocking the law.
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: OMG: Sequels to 'Brosurance' Ad Target Women
While many of the new spots feature messages on the benefits of insurance for children, expectant moms and others, some of the ads are more provocative. One ad has the title "Let's Get Physical," with the text: "OMG, he's hot! Let's hope he's as easy to get as this birth control. My health insurance covers the pill, which means all I have to worry about is getting him between the covers." Another ad, playing on a Ryan Gosling meme, starts, "Hey girl, you're excited about easy access to birth control and I'm excited about getting to know you." Colorado runs its own health exchange under the new federal health law. The spots from the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and ProgressNow Colorado Education target 20-somethings -- the young, healthy demographic needed to keep rates down -- and are designed to be shared on social media such as Twitter and Pinterest (Hanrahan, 11/12).
The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire: With Healthcare.gov’s Woes, Enroll America Adjusts Its Pitch
Enroll America, a group whose sole focus is help people sign up for insurance programs through Obamacare, is readjusting its outreach campaign as HealthCare.gov works out its technological problems. The group, which has been running a “Get Covered America” grassroots campaign, plans to launch a “Coverage is Coming” campaign in December, when the Obama administration has said the website’s biggest problems will be fixed (Dooren, 11/12).
McClatchy: Republicans Release New Ads Mocking 'Obamacare'
Republicans released a new round of comical web ads attacking the health care law's bungled rollout. The Republican National Committee videos are set to run on ESPN and Comedy Central YouTube pages in college towns. An earlier round of ads ran last month. The ads mock Obama on his promise that people buying insurance on the individual market would be able to keep their plans if they liked them and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius's congressional testimony (Kumar, 11/12).
And in California --
California Healthline: Groups Gear Up For Big Enrollment Events
An estimated 1,500 people attended an enrollment fair over the weekend in Sacramento. That may be the largest event of its kind but definitely not the last of its kind, organizers said. … Dayanna Carlos, a program associate with the California Endowment, said the Endowment has set up enrollment events this size in the past but this had a little extra zip, she said, because it was the first one since Covered California opened enrollment Oct. 1. The Endowment has hosted events in Oakland, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego over the past two years to help people enroll in existing programs, such as the Low Income Health Plan (Gorn, 11/12).
