Final Obamacare push ties into March Madness

The White House Monday launched a marketing campaign that plans to piggyback on attention for college basketball's March Madness men's and women's basketball tournaments to get more younger Americans to sign up for insurance via HealthCare.gov and state exchanges. The basketball-themed push uses both online and traditional ad tools.

The day after the men's NCAA tournament brackets were announced, and in advance of the women's tournament schedule, the White House released its own brackets—The 16 Sweetest Reasons to Get Covered. The bracket pits humorous GIFs against each other, with captions that include “Checkups could save your life” and “You only live once.” In one, Michelle Obama even dunks in a goal held by NBA star LeBron James.

The Miami Heat player and most widely known star in the NBA also is featured in a 30-second commercial set to air this week on ESPN, ABC, TNT and NBA TV. But he isn't the only celebrity athlete to push HealthCare.gov. Magic Johnson and Alonzo Mourning also have been a part of the latest television, radio and digital ad campaign launched earlier this year.

And with the release of the HealthCare.gov bracket, University of North Carolina men's basketball coach Roy Williams and University of Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma get in on the action as well, making pitches to fans in a short ad that tells them to get covered. “You've only got til March 31 to beat the buzzer,” Williams says.

When the president's picks for the basketball tournaments are released Wednesday, those will be placed on the same WhiteHouse.gov page as the health coverage bracket, which the White House has been promoting through Twitter and Facebook. It's a move that should help drive traffic to the online campaign, which links directly to HealthCare.gov. Last year, despite only predicting one Final Four team correctly, the president's NCAA tournament picks—posted on the White House blog—drew close to 300,000 views.

Follow Rachel Landen on Twitter: @MHrlanden