OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Administration lifts veil on ObamaCare campaign

The Obama administration is revealing new details about its efforts to promote ObamaCare after enrollment data revealed that younger people represent only one quarter of the law’s sign-ups so far. 



Federal health officials and their allies are targeting 25 cities in their attempt to register millions more uninsured patients before the end of March, according to an administration official. 

Efforts aimed specifically at young people include paid media advertisements on networks like ESPN and during shows like “Family Guy,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “The X Factor” and during the Sochi Olympics, the official said.

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The campaign was described as a wide-ranging outreach effort whose results have run the gamut from online videos to events at local bars to door-to-door canvassing. 

Behind the operation are administration officials, insurance companies, outside health and enrollment groups and local elected officials, the official said. Elise Viebeck at The Hill reports.

Exodus: The vast majority of Capitol Hill staffers are worried about changes, costs and access to their healthcare plans under ObamaCare, and the worry could provoke an exodus of talent, a new survey found.

The Congressional Management Foundation interviewed 163 Capitol Hill staffers in November and December, and found 91 percent said they were worried about possible changes to their healthcare benefits under the Affordable Care Act. In addition, 87 percent said they were worried about the cost of their new health insurance, and 82 percent said they had concerns about access to local healthcare providers. Jonathan Easley at The Hill reports.

Risk corridors: Republican lawmakers are quietly gathering support for legislation to stop the federal government from cushioning the blow for health insurance companies whose costs rise more than expected under ObamaCare.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) are behind bills to repeal the healthcare law’s “risk corridors” provision. That section creates a temporary pool of money to pay insurers who enroll a higher-than-expected number of sick patients with expensive bills. Representatives from both offices said support grew for their bills after conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer derided the payments as a “government bailout” for insurance companies in a piece published Jan. 2.

Elise Viebeck at The Hill reports.

Omnibus: House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) on Monday trumpeted funding cuts to some of the GOP’s most despised ObamaCare programs in the newly unveiled $1 trillion omnibus spending bill. The bill reduces the Prevention and Public Health fund by $1 billion. 

Rogers also took aim at the controversial Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), ObamaCare’s Medicare cost-cutting board memorably referred to by Sarah Palin as a “death panel.” The board will see its funding reduced by $10 million. Jonathan Easley at The Hill reports.

State by State:

The fight over expanding Medicaid in Texas.

Majority of Georgians support Medicaid expansion.

Oregon’s ObamaCare website still doesn’t work.

Reading List:

ObamaCare’s credibility gap, by Seth Mandel at Commentary.

Single-payer is not dead, writes Froma Harrop at RealClearPolitics.

Ignore Republicans, ObamaCare is doing fine, by Kevin Drum at MotherJones.

What you may have missed at HealthWatch:

Advocates bemoan funding level for the National Institutes of Health.

Koch brothers group hits candidates for ObamaCare.