WH launches ObamaCare enrollment blitz

The White House and top administration officials are launching the second ObamaCare open enrollment period with a series of outreach events to encourage consumers to purchase insurance plans.

“We are ramping up our outreach starting tomorrow to help get more people covered in 2015,” a White House official said.

{mosads}The second enrollment period will provide a test for the fledgling healthcare law and follows last year’s tumultuous rollout. 

Administration officials insist that the HealthCare.gov website will be working well, when users start signing up on Saturday, but they’ll have only half as long as the initial period to recruit new consumers.

They’ll also be grappling with higher premiums in some markets, as well as confusion among people who have already enrolled about how to retain coverage. 

Moreover, Republicans on Capitol Hill have said they hope to repeal the law now that they’ve captured control of Congress. While President Obama would veto any such measure, there’s fear that some consumers could be wary of purchasing coverage in an uncertain political climate.

Controversial comments by Jonathan Gruber, one of the architects of the law, citing voter “stupidity” for the law’s passage have also created last-minute headaches for the administration and ammunition for GOP critics.

Still, the administration hopes it can enroll an additional 2 million people in coverage over the next three months.

President Obama, who is traveling this week in Asia and Australia, will devote his weekly radio and TV address to insurance enrollment through the Affordable Care Act, a White House official said.

First lady Michelle Obama on Friday held two organizing calls, one with volunteers helping sign consumers up for coverage and another with healthcare providers across the country.

And on Saturday, the first day of the new enrollment period, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell will attend an enrollment event in suburban Virginia — one of more than 200 healthcare events planned across the country this weekend.

Burwell is also taping TV interviews with local stations in Chicago; El Paso, Texas; San Antonio and Atlanta, and will travel next week to attend ObamaCare events in Tampa, Fla.; Miami and Houston. 

Kevin Counihan, the CEO of the health insurance marketplace, has taped radio interviews airing in Tucson, Ariz.; Portland, Ore.; Denver; Kansas City, Mo.; Cleveland; Salt Lake City and Baltimore.

The White House also plans to flood its social media channels with content driving consumers to HealthCare.gov, the official said. On Friday, the administration released a YouTube video of a Texas couple who said they were able to launch their own small business because they no longer had to rely on an employer for health coverage.