Obamacare Plans to Use NFL for Propaganda Purposes

WaPo reports:

Top federal health officials are in talks with the National Football League to promote the health law’s insurance marketplaces that begin enrolling people Oct 1.

“The NFL is enthusiastically engaged … and they see health promotion as a good thing for them and for the country,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said during a media briefing Monday.

Sebelius said the administration is also talking to other major sports franchises about improving public awareness of the Obamacare online insurance exchanges, which are a critical way the federal health law expands insurance coverage.

The administration is aiming to sign up about 7 million people through the marketplaces before the open enrollment period ends March 31. The coverage takes effect Jan. 1.  Most people shopping in the marketplaces will be eligible for federal subsidies that vary based on their income. Surveys show little public awareness of the exchanges, or the availability of subsidies, particularly among the uninsured who are most likely to use them.

“We are having active discussions with a variety of sports affiliates with paid advertising and partnerships,” Sebelius said, adding that she has been involved in the talks personally.

The NFL and other professional sports organizations such as the National Basketball League [sic]and Major League Soccer are obvious places for the federal government to target young men to sign up for coverage, Sebelius said.  The administration needs to find millions of young and healthy people to help balance out its insurance risk pool to make up for the older and sicker people who are expected to sign up. In 2014, insurers will no longer be able to turn people away or charge higher rates to people with pre-existing health conditions.

It's a sucker's game for a young person to buy Obamacare insurance. The cost will be much higher than free market health insurance would be for the young. The higher cost is because Obamacare is, among other things, a redistribution program that results in the young absorbing medical care costs of the elderly. WaPo isn't joking when it says:

 The administration needs to find millions of young and healthy people to help balance out its insurance risk pool to make up for the older and sicker people who are expected to sign up.

It's a bad deal for the young. The young, for the most part, will be much better off paying the 2014 penalty for not buying insurance, which in most cases will be a fine of  $95. It's sad to see the NFL getting involved in such a devious project. But, then again, sports has always been a rallying point for government. There's the playing of the National Anthem, the annoying air force flyovers, presidents throwing out first pitches, th  honoring of "our men and women of 'our' armed services," that is, honoring government trained killers, etc. It is best to cheer on the many individual great athletes, such as Michael Jordan, who seemed to make a calculated decision to stay away from political leaders who tried to latch on to him. The only time I am aware of Michael Jordan endorsing anyone running for office is when he endorsed former New York Knick Bill Bradley, and I believe Jordan did so only because of tremendous pressure from his former coach, the evil Phil Jackson, who was an adviser to Bradley's campaign team.