With three weeks to go before the March 31 health insurance enrollment deadline, the White House is picking up the pace -- this week spotlighting women and moms with "Moms Know Best" week.
Women and moms often make the health care decisions for their families and the White House says they benefit directly from the Affordable Care Act, including a provision that women can't be charged more for health care because they're women.
The week-long enrollment push will include online engagement, local events, and media efforts focused on highlighting the role women and moms playing in health care, the White House says.
And it's looking to moms to help boost enrollment numbers by persuading their children to sign up.
"We're calling on moms to reach out to their adult children, get them off the couch and on the computer to enroll, make sure that they have quality, affordable health insurance," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said. "There are a lot of young folks, because they are young and healthy, today, think they're invincible and are not fully aware of the need to have quality, affordable health insurance."
The outreach efforts include President Obama's interview with WebMD, which has a majority of women visitors to its site.
First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday will join an organizing call to thank volunteers and door to door canvassers from organizations who are working to enroll the uninsured, with a strong focus on reaching women. The organizations are working in more than 12 states including Texas, Ohio and Florida, and have knocked on more than 1 million doors and had conversations with over 500,000 people.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today will participate in a press conference at the Women's Health Center in Atlanta with elected officials, African American leaders and small business owners to highlight local enrollment efforts, and will meet with a female small business owner from the community.
She'll hold a conference call with women's bloggers on Wednesday on the importance of enrolling by the March 31 deadline. Also on Wednesday, White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett will participate in a Google+ Hangout with Cosmo for Latinas to inform and encourage young Latinas to sign up for health care.
The Department of Health and Human Services daily will highlight women who have enrolled for insurance through HealthCare.gov, beginning today with the story of Rachel, a 27-year-old actress, grad student and part-time worker from Atlanta who got coverage for $7 per month.
By Lesley Clark
McClatchy Washington Bureau