President Obama’s Health and Human Services Department used taxpayer money to hire a public relations firm to convince television shows to promote Obamacare. The plan appears to have backfired, as one of the shows targeted mocked the president last night for saddling young people with the cost of his health care law.
“In last night’s episode, titled ‘Arrested,’ 13 year-old Luke Dunphy (played by Nolan Gould) suffered from an allergic reaction to soy and was sent to the hospital,” observes Erin Brown of Red Alert Politics. “When three year-old extended family member Lily Tucker-Pritchett (played by Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) visited his bedside and inquired about the presence of an IV drip, Dunphy stated, ‘I don’t know but thanks to Obama, you’re paying for it.’”
It’s conceivable that this unflattering comment about the president’s health care law came about through the public relations efforts of Obama’s HHS, given that ‘Modern Family’ was one of the shows targeted by the marketing plan.
“A number of popular television programs and personalities such as Grey’s Anatomy, Modern Family, the Biggest Loser, Dr. Oz and others will be approached and pitched to incorporate story lines or mentions of health care reform that would reinforce campaign messages,” the marketing plan explained, as quoted by The Hill in September.
HHS spent $900,000 on the PR contract.
