White House tips off last push for health sign-ups

For the Obama administration, March Madness is another chance to press young people — particularly young men — to sign up for health care.

Health care officials are launching a marketing campaign wrapped around the NCAA men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments, which start this week.

Starting today, Obama, some of his aides and celebrity athletes will conduct interviews, make public service ads and use social-media appeals as a key deadline looms on March 31.

“We’re putting on a full-court press to remind our fellow fans that there are two weeks left to sign up for quality, affordable health insurance,” said White House senior communications adviser Tara McGuinness.

Today, Obama — who is planning to release his annual NCAA tournament picks this week — will be interviewed by the Univision Radio program Locura Deportiva (Sports Madness). That session tips off a string of interviews with administration officials.

ESPN Deportes, which has a largely Hispanic audience, will interview White House chief of staff Denis McDonough today and will air public service announcements featuring Labor Secretary Tom Perez.

The financing of Obama’s plan requires younger, healthier people to offset the costs of older, less healthy people. Many members of this key cohort — often called “the young invincibles” — don’t buy health insurance because they don’t think they will ever need it.

The Obama administration will release a “16 Sweetest Reasons to Get Covered” bracket today, listing its top reasons to sign up. The bracket will be included in a video featuring college basketball coaches.

Starting next week, the Obama team will have a new health care ad featuring basketball superstar LeBron James running on ESPN, ABC, TNT and NBAtv. The James ad joins 30-second spots featuring retired basketball greats Magic Johnson and Alonzo Mourning.

McGuinness said that athletes and coaches can be effective spokespeople because they “know better than anyone that none of us are invincible — you never know when you might need to have health insurance if you get hurt unexpectedly, whether on or off the court.”

Republicans say the health care plan is not working, and they plan to use the issue against Democratic candidates in this year’s congressional elections. They cite problems ranging from low sign-up numbers to threats of canceled policies to problems with the federal exchange website HealthCare.gov.