The president will appear for the first half of the hour-long televised event. Obama makes Spanish ACA push

President Barack Obama will make a pitch for Hispanics to get covered under Obamacare this Thursday in a televised town hall co-hosted by the three largest Spanish-language media outlets in the United States.

According to White House officials, the president will appear for the first half of the hourlong televised event, answering questions that attendees submit in advance. During the second half experts will take in-depth questions about the law and its impact on the Latino community, which has a far higher uninsurance rate than the nation overall.


It’s being jointly sponsored by the two big Spanish language TV outlets Telemundo and Univision and the news and information company La Opinion- impreMedia.

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The Latino market is important, and Obama’s appearance is part of the high-stakes push to drive up enrollment in new Obamacare insurance exchanges before the March 31 sign-up deadline. The White House noted that the president and first lady Michelle Obama have participated in syndicated radio interviews reaching 77 stations in the last few weeks.

The Latino town hall is part of a series of targeted media appearances by senior White House officials. Vice President Joe Biden joined The View last week to make an enrollment pitch to women, especially mothers. Even chief of staff Denis McDonough found a niche market comfort zone, sitting for a pair of interviews on sports stations.

It’s part of a subtler White House sales pitch for the Affordable Care Act that doesn’t revolve around daily events in Washington or high-profile national addresses, and it goes hand in hand with a lot of outreach the administration has done with local officials and local media.

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“In the final push, we’ll be ramping up efforts to reach the uninsured directly where they are,” said White House health care strategist Tara McGuinness, “in their communities, on the radio stations they listen to, the programs they watch, the websites they read, through their family members and people in their community who know them and want them to get covered, and by encouraging celebrities and athletes to get the word out.”

The administration has also relied on celebrity surrogates to promote the health law, with Kerry Washington, Aisha Tyler, Tatyana Ali and Star Jones all helping out in recent weeks.

It also comes as administration allies like Enroll America lead a major push in the final four weeks. The administration says 4 million people have signed up for coverage through state and federal exchanges, though it’s unclear how many of them have paid their first premiums, the final step to completing enrollment. As a result, it’s unclear how far the White House has to go to get 6 million people enrolled, a target that’s already been reduced from the initial 7 million goal after the rocky rollout of new insurance exchanges. Nearly 9 million more have been found eligible for Medicaid coverage through state agencies and exchanges, although not all are newly eligible because of the health law.

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