The White House is desperate to sign up Nevada’s Millennials for Obamacare. With the March 31 enrollment deadline closing fast, the latest figures show that only 22 percent of the state’s Obamacare sign-ups are between ages 18 and 34. That’s a far cry from the 40 percent that the White House wants.
Blame the Obamacare marketing team. Since the exchanges launched in October, the team’s attempts to persuade us to sign up have been inappropriate, incoherent and simply insulting.
The list of examples is long and painful, but the “Brosurance” ads, which have gone viral across the country, are the most famous flop by far. In print and social media, these ads paint the picture of Millennials as drunks and dolts.
One ad shows three young men — “bros” — doing a keg stand. Its tagline: “Don’t tap into your beer money to cover those medical bills.” Another tries to link flu shots to liquor shots. The worst ad shows a guy and a girl about to hook up. It reads, “I hope he’s as easy to get as this birth control.”
This insulted more Millennials than it convinced. The spots ultimately reached a huge portion of the youth market, but only because the outrage was so intense that the ads were lampooned on national television. When Comedy Central showed the ads to a group of 20-somethings, every last one expressed disgust and disappointment.
Those same Millennials were likely left scratching their heads at some of the White House’s other marketing ploys.
Take the recent Magic Johnson ad, for instance. It was clearly made by someone who doesn’t understand anyone younger than 30. Most Millennials don’t even know who Magic Johnson is. He retired in 1991. Today’s college students were all born after that, meaning they couldn’t tell you if he played baseball, basketball, or maybe cricket.
Other ads have drawn scorn and ridicule. The “pajama boy” social media campaign led to scathing responses from the media for making Millennials look self-absorbed and annoying. The “Mom jeans” campaign tried, and failed, to link health coverage with awkward-fitting pants. The case for health care had never been less clear.
One of the administration’s allies, Get Covered America, took the confusion a step further. It created a two-minute original song featuring singing cats, dogs, and birds. Intended to spark a nationwide increase in enrollments, the ad was greeted by silence, receiving only 60,000 views on YouTube.
Given such pitiful attempts at reaching the young and the healthy, it’s no surprise that Millennials haven’t responded by signing up for Obamacare in droves. In reality, it’s too expensive for too many Millennials — and none of the marketing campaigns have been slick enough to bury this fact.
Obamacare leaves the average 27 year old facing a gender-averaged 47.5 percent premium increase, according to Forbes. Even after subsidies, that’s an expense that many Millennials can’t afford.
Perversely, such high costs make it even harder for us to purchase health insurance in the future, when we can afford it. By not signing up for expensive plans now, insurance rates will increase as soon as next year — for everyone. That leaves us with two choices: Buy an unaffordable plan now, or wait and buy an unaffordable plan later.
Our only remaining option is to opt out of Obamacare entirely. If the latest numbers are any indication, that’s exactly what Millennials in Nevada are doing. We know a bad deal when we see one —and we’re not as dumb as Obamacare’s marketers seem to think.
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Evan Feinberg is the President of Generation Opportunity and his article was published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.