White House press secretary Jay Carney on Monday said the administration is calling on moms to get their adult children “off the couch and on the computer to enroll” in ObamaCare before the March 31 deadline.
{mosads}The White House spokesman was asked why the administration was spending the week targeting mothers in an enrollment push when women were among the president’s strongest supporters during the 2012 election.
“We’re not,” Carney said. “We’re calling on moms to reach out to their adult children, get them off the couch and on the computer to enroll and make sure that they have quality affordable health insurance, because … a lot of young folks, because they’re young and healthy today, think they’re invincible and are not fully aware of the need to have quality affordable health insurance because, you know, they’re an accident away or an illness away from needing it very much.”
The “Mom Knows Best” week will see President Obama sit for an interview with WebMD, first lady Michelle Obama thank volunteers who are helping to enroll individuals, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius travel to Atlanta to highlight the president’s signature healthcare reform law.
White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett will also participate in a Google+ Hangout with Cosmopolitan for Latinas.
Carney added that mothers had a “unique authority” with their family members to help push enrollment.
The push from the White House comes with just three weeks left before the ObamaCare enrollment period closes. So far, 4 million Americans have enrolled in the exchanges, short of the 7 million projected by the Congressional Budget Office before the program launched.