Healthy Campuses Help Students #GetCovered

The final open enrollment period of this Administration started on November 1, and since then, more than 11.5 million people nationwide have signed up for health insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace. As part of our Administration’s ongoing efforts to reach the remaining uninsured, the White House launched the Healthy Campus Challenge in September, hoping to engage college and university campuses in enrollment efforts. Campuses opted in by agreeing to undertake a series of best practices, like emailing all students and faculty with information about open enrollment, amplifying deadlines on social media, holding enrollment events, and producing creative online content to reach community members.

White House staff members worked with administrators, students, faculty, staff, alumni, local community leaders, and elected officials across the country to spread the word about open enrollment and the Marketplace, sharing best practices with them honed over the last four years.

More than 350 campuses from all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico participated in the Challenge and carried out some enrollment activities, with nearly 100 campuses completing all the criteria.

Today, leaders from nearly 60 of those campuses will attend Healthy Campus Challenge Day at the White House. We can’t wait to congratulate them for their hard work during the ongoing open enrollment period, hear creative ideas from these schools, and brainstorm ways for them to work together moving forward. Our hope in holding the Challenge was to institutionalize these enrollment practices on campuses nationwide for future open enrollments. 

Healthy Campus Challenge Day will be streamed live from South Court Auditorium at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, January 13 at obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/live, and here’s the program agenda, if you’re tuning in from afar:

Welcome Remarks

Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President, the White House

Panel I: Healthy Campuses Share What Works

Moderator: Bess Evans, Senior Associate Director and Senior Policy Advisor, White House Office of Public Engagement and Domestic Policy Council

Stephanie Blaisdell, Ph.D, Assistant Vice President, University of Memphis

Jessica Koscelnak, Director of Health Services, Keystone College

Jessica Lauritsen, Director of Student Life & Career Development, Hennepin Technical College

Alyssa Padilla, Special Projects Coordinator, University of Arizona

Susan Quinn, Director of Student Health Services, Santa Rosa Junior College

Jodi A. Ray, Director of the College of Public Health, University of South Florida

Brett Rowlett, Director of Governmental & Community Relations, Lane Community College

Presentation of Certificates

Kristie Canegallo, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Implementation, the White House

Panel II: National Organizations Working to Impact Local Efforts

Moderator: Bess Evans, Senior Associate Director and Senior Policy Advisor, White House Office of Public Engagement and Domestic Policy Council

Amaris Bradley, MPH, RD, Senior Manager of Partnerships, Partnership for a Healthier America

Erin Hemlin, National Director of Training and Consumer Education, Young Invincibles

Kyle Lierman, Senior Associate Director and Senior Policy Advisor, White House Office of Public Engagement and Domestic Policy Council

Ebonee Rice, National Director of Strategic Partnerships, Enroll America

Closing Remarks

Bess Evans, Senior Associate Director and Senior Policy Advisor, White House Office of Public Engagement and Domestic Policy Council

The following schools will attend Healthy Campus Challenge Day:

Ashland University (Ashland, OH)

Augsburg College (Minneapolis, MN)

Bakersfield College (Bakersfield, CA)

Bethune-Cookman University (Daytona Beach, FL)

Bowie State University (Bowie, MD)

Bunker Hill Community College (Boston, MA)

California State University, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)

Concord University (Athens, WV)

Cottey College (Nevada, MO)

Delta College (University Center, MI)

DePaul University (Chicago, IL)

Durham Technical Community College (Durham, NC)

Florida Memorial University (Miami Gardens, FL)

George Mason University (Fairfax, VA)

Harold Washington College (Chicago, IL)

Hennepin Technical College (Brooklyn Park, MN)

Kean University (Union, NJ)

Keystone College (Factoryville, PA)

Los Angeles Pierce College (Los Angeles, CA)

Lane Community College (Eugene, OR)

Livingstone College (Salisbury, NC)

Long Beach City College (Long Beach, CA)

Mansfield University of Pennsylvania (Mansfield, PA)

Mercy College (Dobbs Ferry, NY)

Millersville University of Pennsylvania (Millersville, PA)

Missouri State University (Springfield, MO)

Monroe Community College (Rochester, NY)

Nash Community College (Rocky Mount, NC)

Norwalk Community College (Norwalk, CT)

Notre Dame De Namur University (Belmont, CA)

Orange Coast College (Costa Mesa, CA)

Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma, WA)

Pierpont Community & Technical College (Fairmont, WV)

Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)

Rider University (Lawrence Township, NJ)

Santa Rosa Junior College (Santa Rosa, CA)

Southern California University of Health Sciences (Whittier, CA)

Spencerian College (Louisville, KY)

Sullivan University (Louisville, KY)

The University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)

The University of New Orleans (New Orleans, LA)

The University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg, MS)

Trocaire College (Buffalo, NY)

United Tribes Technical College (Bismarck, ND)

University of Delaware (Newark, DE)

University of Hawaii at Hilo (Hilo, HI)

University of Memphis (Memphis, TN)         

University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)

University of South Florida (Tampa, FL)

University of Wisconsin - River Falls (River Falls, WI)

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WI)

Upper Iowa University (Fayette, IA)

Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA)

Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI)

Western Washington University (Bellingham, WA)

William Rainey Harper College (Palatine, IL)

Xavier University of Louisiana (New Orleans, LA)

Kristie Canegallo is the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Implementation.