Obama seeks to connect with young adults, encourage them to sign up for coverage

Dec 6 2013

The 18-35 year-old demographic is seen as key to achieving stability in the new online insurance marketplaces. But reaching this group is no easy task -- their interest and support for the health law appears to be waning.

The Washington Post: Obama Urges On Young Activists; 3-Day Healthcare.gov Enrollment Hits 56,000
President Obama urged a group of young activists Wednesday not to give up on promoting his signature health-care law, as enrollment picked up on HealthCare.gov. Roughly 27,000 Americans signed up for insurance on the federal exchange on Tuesday, according to internal figures, bringing the site's three-day enrollment total to 56,000. That figure is more than double the number who enrolled online in the entire month of October, which was almost 27,000 (Eilperin and Goldstein, 12/4).

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare Happy Hour? Obama Urges Creativity In Touting Health Law
With the federal health insurance exchange now operating more smoothly for most users, President Obama assembled 160 youth leaders at the White House on Wednesday, enlisting them to help sign up their peers for health insurance -; a crucial factor in whether his signature law will succeed. As the student body presidents and youth activists gathered for an afternoon of seminars with White House officials and leaders of allied groups, a new poll showed that the administration and its allies have their work cut out for them (Reston, 12/4).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Obama Hopes Youth Not Discouraged By Health Woes
President Barack Obama says he hopes young people don't get discouraged by how hard it has been to implement health care reform. Obama spoke Wednesday to an audience of young leaders at a White House youth summit on health care. He told the participants that it has never been easy to make big changes in the United States, citing the civil rights movement and efforts by women to win the right to vote (12/4).

Politico: President Obama Wants A Hard Sell For Young Adults
The millennials hung out with the president at the White House on Wednesday, not to shoot hoops or shoot the breeze but to strategize on how to get young adults to sign up for health care. The Youth Summit drew 160 participants from across the country, all members of the 18-35 age demographic that is seen as critical to the financial stability of Obamacare exchanges. The gathering was shy on celebrities in favor of college student body presidents, DJs, YouTube stars, early-career entrepreneurs and leaders from a diverse spread of organizations that have influence with young people, even if it's typically on subjects other than health care. Teen Vogue, for one, was represented (Villacorta, 12/4).

CNN: Obama Urges Young Supporters To Talk Up Obamacare
Sounding like a motivational speaker, President Barack Obama asked young supporters on Wednesday to encourage their peers to sign up for health coverage under his embattled reforms known both affectionately and derisively as Obamacare. At a White House Youth Summit, Obama used the opportunity to rally a key demographic for the success of the 2010 Affordable Care Act now that the system's problem-plagued website appeared to working smoothly for most users (Cohen, 12/4).

NPR: White House Cites Pre-Existing Condition Case From Its Own Ranks
It's Day 4 of the White House's new messaging push for the Affordable Care Act. Today the goal is to tell the stories of people with pre-existing conditions who are now entitled to coverage under the new health care law. One such story comes from within the White House. Michael Robertson, chief of staff in the Cabinet Affairs Office, was diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer at age 35. "I went overnight from being completely healthy and exercising and all that to having this catastrophic disease," he said in an interview at the White House on Wednesday. Robertson described the shock of realizing "these things can happen in an instant. They don't just happen to older people" (Shapiro, 12/5).

But a new poll shows the president and the health law are losing favor with this population -

Bloomberg: Youth Break With President On Obamacare Support In Poll
The nation's youth, a group that twice rallied behind President Barack Obama at the ballot box, is failing to support his signature domestic achievement and increasingly disillusioned with his presidency. More than half of those 18 to 29 years old say they disapprove of Obamacare and half expect it will increase their health-care costs, a survey by Harvard University's Institute of Politics shows. Four in 10 say they anticipate the quality of their coverage will get worse because of the law (McCormick, 12/4

The New York Times: Poll Finds Young People Souring On Health Law And Obama
A majority of 18- to 29-year-olds – a constituency crucial to the success of President Obama's health overhaul -; disapprove of the law, and fewer than a third of those who are uninsured are likely to sign up for coverage, according to a new poll by Harvard University's Institute of Politics. The survey, released Wednesday, also found a stark drop in Mr. Obama's approval ratings among those so-called millennial voters, who have long been his most ardent supporters (Stolberg, 12/4).

Los Angeles Times: Millennial Generation Sours On Obama, Skeptical Of Healthcare Law
Members of the huge millennial generation, who have strongly supported President Obama in the past, have soured on him and take a skeptical view of his signature healthcare law, according to a new poll from Harvard's Institute of Politics. "Millennials have always been one of two significant parts of the Obama coalition," said John Della Volpe, the institute's polling director. Throughout Obama's national political career, members of the millennial generation gave him a significantly higher approval rating than the rest of the population, he said (Lauter, 12/4).

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Poll: Millennials No Big Fans Of Obamacare
As President Barack Obama gave remarks Wednesday to a White House Youth Summit on health care, a new poll shows the Affordable Care Act isn't faring well among young adults, who share the largely skeptical views of other Americans. A majority of millennials -; adults aged 18-29 -; in the poll disapprove of Mr. Obama's signature health-care law, and fewer than 30% of uninsured millennials said they will definitely or probably enroll if and when they are eligible, a Harvard Institute of Politics poll found (Ballhaus, 12/4).

PBS NewsHour: Presidential Approval Ratings Wane As Millennials Grow Wary Of ACA
A new poll of Americans aged 18-29 revealed a "solid majority" of young people disapprove of the Affordable Care Act. Of those without health care coverage, only 29 percent said they were likely to enroll in the insurance exchanges. Judy Woodruff talks to John Della Volpe of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University (Woodruff, 12/4).

Fox News: 'Sea Change': Poll Shows Young People Skeptical Of Obamacare, Amid Obama Outreach
As the president hosts a White House youth summit, a new poll from his alma mater shows a majority of young people aren't interested in signing up for his signature health care plan. The Harvard "Millennials" poll found only 22 percent of young Americans -- defined in the survey as between 18 and 29 years old -- plan to sign up for ObamaCare. Even more troubling for the administration, fewer than a third -- only 29 percent -- of people who currently do not have health insurance plan to enroll (Roberts, 12/4).