President Barack Obama will visit Milwaukee on March 3 to congratulate the city for winning the White House’s “Healthy Communities Challenge” by enrolling the most new residents in marketplace coverage under the Affordable Care Act, known colloquially as ‘Obamacare.”
Information about the President’s itinerary while he’s in Milwaukee has not been released.
More than 89,000 people in Milwaukee bought a health plan on the federal marketplace by the end of the third open-enrollment period, and 38,000 were new enrollees. Those numbers put Milwaukee on top in the challenge, which tracked 20 participating cities to see which made the largest gains during the open enrollment period.
“In November, when I received a call from the White House challenging Milwaukee to increase the number of new enrollees into the Health Insurance Marketplace, I accepted without hesitation with the knowledge that our coalition of health partners was already at work,” said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. “I am proud of the collaborative effort that took place to increase the number of local residents enrolled in health insurance, and I look forward to showcasing the hard work of the more than 100 partners in the Milwaukee Enrollment Network during this visit.”
White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough notified several local stakeholders of Milwaukee’s victory on Feb. 12 in a conference call, including Barrett; Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele; Kathleen Falk, regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Hector Colon, director of Milwaukee County’s Department of Health and Human Services; Joy Tapper, executive director of the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership; and other local stakeholders.
