Young adults are continuing to sign up for health insurance programs, but the latest numbers indicate that the percentage—around 25%—has stayed the same since the marketplaces opened for enrollment in October. Kaiser Health News reports that while this is not bad news, it falls short of the 40% youthful enrollment goal, with only weeks until the deadline passes them by on March 31.
Health and Human Services reports that 4.2 million people have signed up for coverage through the marketplace. Silver plans—which NPR notes is the second of the lowest tiers—are the most popular level of coverage so far.
While Health and Human Services has pursued traditional efforts—as in advertisements—to prod enrollment, President Barack Obama took a different approach this week by appearing on “Between Two Ferns” with actor Zack Galifianakis. The FunnyorDie piece included digs from both sides, with Obama saying that while a third run at the office is not possible, “if I ran a third time, it’d be sorta like doing a third Hangover movie. It didn’t really work out very well, did it,” and Galifianakis asking “Is it going to be hard in two years when you’re no longer president and people will stop letting you play basketball?”
The video also included a pitch for healthcare.gov which Galifianakis describes as “the thing that doesn’t work. Why would you get the guy that created Zune to make your website?”
Healthcare.gov says site traffic spiked 40% after the video ran, tweeting the stat with the hashtag GetCoveredNow.
