President Barack Obama's push to increase signups for Obamacare had two focal points this week: Geeks and Zach Galifianakis.
After Obama appeared on an episode of "Between Two Ferns," an online comedy series on Funny or Die hosted by actor Galifianakis, the administration published a video and blog post written by White House Chief Technology Officer Todd Park, both promoting a new campaign called #GeeksGetCovered.
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An often-absurdist comedian and a group of "whiz kids" tie into a plan that's crucial to the longterm viability of the Affordable Care Act: getting more young people to enroll.
"With age comes risk — risk of health problems — so, they're trying to get as many young folks as they can into the marketplace," Devon Herrick, a senior fellow for the National Center for Policy Analysis, told Mashable. "Of course, the problem is precisely because young people tend to be healthy, they don't really have as great a demand for health coverage."
Herrick described getting younger people to sign up as an "uphill battle" for the administration and health insurance companies participating in the new law.
In reaching out to so-called "geeks," Obama is attempting to dually promote entrepreneurship and encourage more young people to join the market. Park's blog post pitch is aimed directly at Ph.D. students and "whiz kids building gadgets in their parents’ garages," as well as Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.
Statistics from the Bureau of Labor show that the average age of people in "computer and mathematical occupations" is 40.9, which is about one-and-a-half years younger than that of the general workforce.
On entrepreneurship, Park references a 2013 study commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a healthcare-focused charity, that estimated 1.5 million more Americans will be self-employed because access to healthcare will be less tied to employers.
The White House video features Ryan Panchadsaram, 28, who was recently hailed by Time magazine as one of the "group of high-tech wizards revived Obama's troubled HealthCare.gov website."

Obama's conversation with Galifianakis' on "Between Two Ferns," which went live early Tuesday morning, was slightly less erudite. The episode is essentially a pitch for young people to sign up for the Affordable Care Act == wrapped in six-and-a-half minutes of Obama and Galifianakis lobbing comical insults at one another.
"I wouldn't be with you here today if I didn't have something to plug," Obama tells a sighing Galifianakis, as he begins to discuss HealthCare.gov about halfway through the video.
"A lot of young people, they think they're invincible," Obama says. Galifianakis asks if Obama means invisible. "No, invincible, meaning that they think they can't get hurt," Obama quips.
Last week, the White House released a video, filmed several months prior, of Obama meeting with YouTube stars for advice on how to reach younger audiences online.
"We have to find ways to break through," Dan Pfeiffer, Obama's chief communication strategist, told the New York Times, referring specifically to Obama's appearance with Galifianakis.
It may be years before we find out whether this push has found success regarding healthcare.
Herrick, the healthcare policy expert, said the administration must avoid what he called the "adverse selection death spiral." In this scenario, insurance companies receive older and less healthy enrollees than projected, and in turn raise their prices after year one. In turn, younger and healthier people are even less inclined to sign up for coverage during year two, causing a unsustainable situation for the system.
For now, this means you should get used to seeing Obama on the comedy beat.
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