Washington (CNN) - As part of the administration's final push to encourage people to sign up for health insurance before the March 31 deadline, President Barack Obama spent nearly 30 minutes Friday answering questions about premium prices, Medicaid expansion and other issues from WebMD users from all 50 states.
Lisa Zamosky, WebMD's health care reform expert, said the site got a "huge response," receiving hundreds of questions and from some users who were concerned about the Affordable Care Act, others who were confused about the law, and still others who wanted to thank the President for signing it into legislation.
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In response to a question about high premiums, Obama encouraged people to log onto Healthcare.gov to find out about the plans being provided and whether they qualify for financial help, in the form of a tax credit.
"If you are young it may end up costing as little as $50 for good, solid coverage that not only protects you in the case of illness or accident, but also allows you to get free preventive care," the President said. "What I would suggest for most folks is that having good, solid insurance with some deductibles and co-pays is better than no insurance at all."
The administration says 4.2 million people signed up for coverage on the state or federal exchanges by the end of February, but unless the rate of signups increases significantly this month, it is unlikely officials will reach their goal of 6 million signups by March 31.
The President received a lot of attention when he appeared earlier this week on the Funny or Die web series called "Between Two Ferns", hosted by actor Zach Galifianakis. The internet program is popular with the young adults the administration is hoping to attract.
Another interview Friday with DJ and tv personality Ryan Seacrest and recruiting celebrity pitchmen like basketball superstar Lebron James and singer Lance Bass are also part of efforts to drive traffic to the Healthcare.gov website.
The White House touted Friday's event as the first-ever WebMD interview with the President and said the site had "enormous reach with moms and women." The administration has tried to target mothers in particular because of their perceived ability to influence their adult children and other family members to sign up for coverage.