Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Tuesday urged officials in states with HHS-run public exchanges to push for enrollment through faith-based organizations, campuses and community groups.
Enrollers should target the young and the healthy because their attention is the hardest to get, plus that group's participation in the exchanges is needed to help hold down the cost of coverage, Sebelius said.
Sebelius called the young, healthy and uninsured "high target populations."
Sebelius was rallying local community health program officials eight weeks into the 26-week Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act open enrollment period.
She appeared on a national conference call that was focused on people she described as "locally elected validators" – including a county clerk in Milwaukee and state legislators in Pennsylvania and Florida – but open to the media.