White House and Twitch To Host Gaming Marathon Promoting Health Insurance Sign-Ups

Thanks (for the gaming marathon), Obama.

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Twitch and President Obama's administration have just announced the White House Competitive Gaming Event, a gaming marathon that will be livestreamed direct from the White House. It will include a mix of casual games played in a competitive manner as well as a selection of eSports titles to kick things up a notch.

The White House Competitive Gaming Event kicks off next Monday, December 12, and will go from 4:00pm Eastern until 8:00pm Eastern / 5:00pm Pacific. This marks the very first time the White House will have participated in a gaming marathon. 

Aside from the novelty of watching a gaming stream broadcast from the White House, the objective of the event is to encourage viewers to sign up for health coverage. Next Thursday, December 15, is the cutoff to register under the Affordable Care Act (aka "Obamacare") for coverage that kicks in starting in January 2017.

"Young adults had the highest uninsured rates before the Affordable Care Act and have seen the sharpest drop in uninsured rates since 2010," wrote Erik Martin, policy advisor for the White House Office of Science and Technology, via the offiicial White House blog.

"But millions of millennials remain uninsured, and many of those uninsured young adults could qualify for tax credits on the Health Insurance Marketplace to keep insurance affordable."

Gaming celebrities will join in to play some of the industry's most popular games.  In particular, Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez will call Street Fighter 5 match-ups between SF celebs Justin Wong and Mike Ross. Additionally, popular names like ActaBunniFooFoo, Annemunition, bijoudemi, darkness_429, Elspeth, imcoty, kungfufruitcup, LifeWithLaughs, Okaydrian, thatchickparker, and Voyboy will be taking part with their own contributions to the stream. 

"Gamers, like everyone, deserve high-quality health care coverage. Engaging the expanding gamer community is part of the Administration’s effort to meet people where they are to help them find a health care plan that’s best for them," Martin wrote.

Long Reads Editor

David L. Craddock writes fiction, nonfiction, and grocery lists. He is the author of the Stay Awhile and Listen series, and the Gairden Chronicles series of fantasy novels for young adults. Outside of writing, he enjoys playing Mario, Zelda, and Dark Souls games, and will be happy to discuss at length the myriad reasons why Dark Souls 2 is the best in the series. Follow him online at davidlcraddock.com and @davidlcraddock.

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