Obamacare Deadline: Biden’s
Guilt-Trip Plan For Young People Enrollment
By Laura Matthews
on March 21 2014 1:00 PM
US Vice President Joe Biden prepares to
introduce President Barack Obama at Lackawanna
College in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pa.,
on Aug. 23. Reuters
There's no way to sugarcoat it: Vice
President Joe Biden is trying to guilt-trip America's young
people into registering for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s
marketplaces, otherwise known as Obamacare.
The open enrollment deadline for Obamacare
is March 31, and the administration is conducting a final push in its attempt
to hit its goal of six million enrollees. Approximately five million people
have already registered for health insurance through one of the program's
exchanges. The administration wants to boost the number of people enrolled in
Obamacare, which faces constant attacks from Republicans. The administration
believes that the greater the number of Americans enrolled in Obamacare, the
more Obamacare's detractors will its see value. The White House is targeting
young people, who are generally healthier than their older counterparts and
offset the cost of care for those who are older and, in general, sicker.
Speaking to the National Association of
Community Health Centers in Washington,
D.C., on Friday, Biden said the
administration cannot do it alone. As a result, he said he entrusted health
care providers to continue working with the administration to push even harder
to bring more enrollees into the pool. Community health centers serve
approximately 21 million people in various communities across the nation.
Biden left them with these talking points
to sell Obamacare:
Peace Of Mind
Getting covered, the vice president said,
is a chance for people to live their lives with more security, so that if they
meet up with difficulties, they aren’t “an accident or an illness away from
bankruptcy.”
Guilt Trip Those Young Ones
Young adults at times tend to think
they’re invincible, Biden said, so he encouraged parents to urge their kids to
use word of mouth and just do it for mom and dad.
“What I say to them [is], remind your
friends that even though they think they’re invincible, they owe it to their
parents to give them peace of mind. ... A little bit of a guilt trip ... . So
every kid out there [who] you know who didn’t sign up, remind them, ‘your
mother is going to be worried. You owe her.'”
Choice
This selling point may be more for those
who are stuck in a job they don't like simply because they need to keep their
health care plan. Enrolling in Obamacare, Biden said, is about “choice,
opportunity and freedom.”
As he sees it, “The law gives folks the
freedom to follow their dreams regardless of where they live or what they do
because now they will be covered no matter where they go.”
Get At Those ‘Hold-Out’ States
Not every lawmaker is enthused about the
new health care law; what's more, the decision about Medicaid expansion under
Obamacare lies with state leaders. Some governors have already signed on for
the expansion. Some are considering whether to do so, while others have
declined to take part.
Biden encouraged providers to lobby
wavering states extensively. “You’re the ones who fuel that progress," he
said. "Push as hard as you can in these last few days. The higher the
numbers the more certitude that this is going to last a long time.”
Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Joseph
R. Biden Jr. is the vice president for the Barack Obama
administration, and a regent at the Smithsonian
Institution.
Note: Shirley
Ann Jackson is a regent at the Smithsonian Institution,
a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and was a trustee at the Committee for Economic
Development.
Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation was a funder for the Smithsonian
Institution, the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and the Committee for Economic
Development.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the Committee for Economic Development.
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to
Promote Open Society.
Alan G. Spoon
was a regent at the Smithsonian Institution,
and a trustee at the Committee for Economic
Development.
Donna S.
Morea was a trustee at the Committee for Economic
Development, and the EVP for the CGI Group
Inc.
CGI
Group Inc. was the Obamacare contractor
that developed Healthcare.gov web site.
Obamacare
is Barack Obama’s signature policy
initiative.
Kenneth
M. Duberstein was a VP for the Committee for Economic
Development, is a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a director at the Boeing
Company.
Barbara
G. Fast was a VP at the Boeing Company,
and a VP for the CGI Group Inc.
William
M. Daley was a director at the Boeing Company,
the chief of staff for the Barack Obama
administration, and is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
W.
James McNerney Jr. is the chairman & president & CEO for the Boeing Company,
and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Walter E.
Massey is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago,
and was a regent for the Smithsonian Institution.
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