White House Says Mayor Garcia Embraced Admin-Created Contest To Enroll More People In ObamaCare, "Winning" City Will Get Presidential Visit

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(Nov. 6, 2015) -- A White House release this morning (Nov. 6) says Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia "embraced" [its word] an administration-created contest between twenty cities to enroll more people under the "Affordable Care Act" ("ObamaCare"), with the winning city receiving a Presidential visit.

The "Affordable Care Act," the President's executive order "waivers" of its mandatory terms for certain constituencies, his previous promises (various forms of "if you like your health insurance you can keep your health insurance") and high deductibles under some of the federal-approved insurance policies, remain politically charged issues. Dems lost their House majority following their approval of the law and the now-Repub-majority House has tried on multiple occasions, and multiple GOP presidential candidates say they favor, changing or repealing the law...with President Obama vowing to veto such changes.

In Long Beach, the City Council, not the Mayor, sets policy by voted action, and the Mayor has no vote. Under the City Charter, LB's Mayor is "recognized as head of the City for all ceremonial purposes," is designated "chief legislative officer," has no vote, only a veto that 2/3 of the Council can override, but shall "utilize the office of Mayor to provide community leadership and as a focal point for the articulation of city-wide perspectives on municipal issues."

LB's City Council is currently overwhelmingly Dem (Councilwoman Mungo is the sole Repub) and the city's voter registration is overwhelmingly Dem.

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A White House media release states:

Today, we are launching the White House "Healthy Communities Challenge" to engage key communities with large numbers or high percentages of uninsured in states across the country where strong federal, state and community collaboration can have a meaningful impact on reaching the uninsured. Through this challenge, we are calling on community leadership to build outreach efforts to reach these remaining uninsured and help them gain coverage.
At the end of this third open enrollment period, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), along with State-based Marketplaces, will publish tallies of new Marketplace signups in participating communities. These tallies will be compared to HHS estimates of the number of eligible uninsured people at the start of open enrollment to see which communities made the most progress during the challenge.
The victorious community gets bragging rights, a healthier community, and a visit from President Obama to celebrate their success in helping ensure every American has health coverage.
Communities Participating in the "Healthy Communities Challenge"
Based on particularly high opportunity for impact, the White House reached out to local officials in each of these 20 communities, who embraced the "Healthy Communities Challenge” to get their uninsured constituents covered:
Atlanta, GA Milwaukee, WI Charlotte, NC Nashville, TN Chicago, IL New Orleans, LA Dallas, TX Oakland, CA Denver, CO Philadelphia, PA Detroit, MI Phoenix, AZ Great Falls, MT Richmond, VA Kansas City, MO Salt Lake City, UT Las Vegas, NV Seattle, WA Long Beach, CA Tampa, FL

Developing.