Obama Asks Celebs to Tweet About Obamacare

The PR offensive comes at a time when Obamacare is on the ropes in a Beltway tug-of-war

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Stephen Lam / Getty Images

President Barack Obama speaks about the Affordable Care Act at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, Calif., on June 6, 2013

The Obama administration hasn’t just embraced social media — they’re in the middle of giving it a big, long bear hug. The president’s outreach team took to Facebook and Twitter to fight (and win) their election battle in 2012, and they’ve returned to that turf this week, asking influential supporters to promote Obamacare using the hashtag #GetCovered.

The exchanges set up under the law — marketplaces where the uninsured or employers go to buy coverage — opened Tuesday, and it makes sense that Obama’s people would promote them regardless of D.C.’s infighting. But given that the Affordable Care Act is the rope in current budget tug-of-war, the social media blitz promoting the law takes on more importance. With conservatives railing against the law and 40 percebnt of Americans supporting its defunding, this is a chance for the administration to demonstrate that influential (or at least well-known) people are tugging on their side.

Reaching young people who might follow these celebrities is especially important to making the law work, as premiums from healthier young consumers are needed to help off-set the higher healthcare costs for older consumers.

According to social media analytics site Brandwatch, there have been about 47,000 mentions of the hashtag on Twitter since yesterday. Here’s a sample of tweets from people and organizations who have responded to Obama’s call: