Kal Penn (Credit: Olivier Douliery/ABACAUSA.COM/Newscom)
In a new move, the White House has enlisted B-list actor Kal Penn, most famous for his role in the “Harold & Kumar” franchise, to sell Obamacare.
This week, President Obama tweeted the following:
“Young Americans finally have better access to quality, affordable health care.” Read more from @KalPenn: http://t.co/hQ3U9jE9GU
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 22, 2014
Disclaimer: @KalPenn has only played fake doctors on TV—but he still knows the importance of affordable health care. http://t.co/NuF2I4zyEJ
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 22, 2014
Penn previously worked for the Obama Administration as associate director in the White House Office of Public Engagement and currently serves on the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
The essay that the President linked to was aimed at convincing young people Obamacare is still worth their time, and began with the line, “WTF Obamacare, who are you?”
The White House may be concerned about the lack of youth signing up for the Obamacare exchanges. Currently, only 24 percent of enrollees are adults aged 18-34. Last year, the Administration said it was striving for 38 percent of enrollees to be in that age bracket.
The error-prone HealthCare.gov may account for part of that number, but Heritage Foundation policy analyst Aylene Senger cites “substantially higher premiums and no subsidy or smaller subsidies” as two other reasons for the lack of interest.
Penn’s piece closes by urging young people to “get covered” and ends with this:
“BTW there’s no cure for mono, so you should still not make out with that person, even when you get insurance. Strep is probably fair game though.”
In the meantime, a recent analysis at Heritage found that in 45 of 50 states, the average 27-year-old purchasing insurance will pay more on the Obamacare exchanges.
