White House to use #MarchMadness to push #Obamacare enrollment

March Madness
The basketball action starts Tuesday …

Just when you thought it was safe to watch the NCAA men’s basketball tournament free from politics.Via Politico:

With the arrival of college basketball’s March Madness, the White House is looking to capitalize on the annual tournament to encourage Americans to enroll in Obamacare.

The promotional effort will include athletes and coaches as well as administration officials, according to a White House official, and will begin on Monday. Sunday was β€œSelection Sunday,” the day the teams in the tournament are announced and the schedule and bracket are released.

The White House plans to release its own bracket Monday as part of the effort, β€œ16 Sweetest Reasons to Get Covered,” timed with the annual release of President Barack Obama’s bracket this week, and the president and high-ranking administration officials will conduct interviews on a variety of outlets coordinated with the push, which will also include social media.

Also Monday, a video featuring β€œtwo of the most-recognized coaches in college basketball,” according to the official, will help launch the bracket. Other athletes and coaches will be involved in PSAs and an ad starring Miami Heat star LeBron James will air across several sports channels and ABC.

Yeehaa. /sarc

The article goes on to note that this is part of the final push for the White House to get as many people enrolled before the March 31 deadline to become enrolled this year. No surprise it’s during the tournament, really, when you consider they’re not getting nearly the number of healthy young people they had hoped to have enrolled in the program in order to offset the costs of older people who are more likely to have health problems who are signing up in much higher numbers. Β The tournament will present them with multiple opportunities to grab the attention of a young, impressionable audience.

In any event, try to ignore the nonsense the best you can. Β Click here to view, print, and fill out your own tournament bracket. Β I won’t be participating in any official pools, but will be filling out a personal bracket for grins and giggles. :)

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