‘Creepy Uncle Sam’ Is Anti-Health Care Law Mascot

A group seeking to persuade young people to “opt out” of President Obama’s health care law posted videos on YouTube Thursday that show young patients on exam tables recoiling in fear as a character the group is calling “Creepy Uncle Sam” appears out of nowhere and looms over them.

The group, Generation Opportunity, said in a news release that the videos were part of a new, six-figure campaign to educate people between the ages of 18 and 29 about “alternatives to expensive and creepy Obamacare exchanges.”

Starting Oct. 1, uninsured Americans will be able to shop for health insurance through new online markets, or exchanges, in every state. Many low- and middle-income people will qualify for federal subsidies to help cover the cost. The Obama administration is eager for healthy young people to enroll in the exchanges, to help offset the cost of insuring older and sicker people.

Evan Feinberg, the president of Generation Opportunity, said in an interview that the group would spend “close to three-quarters of a million dollars” on the campaign, which will include not just online videos but also events at college football games, music festivals and other gatherings that tend to draw young adults. The group will ask young people to pledge not to sign up for insurance through the exchanges, Mr. Feinberg said.

“We talk to folks on a daily basis about what their options are â€" that they have ability to pay the penalty and buy health coverage that better meets their needs and their budget,” he said.

Under the Affordable Care Act, starting in January, most Americans who do not have health insurance will have to pay a tax penalty. In the first year, it will be $95, or 1 percent of family income, whichever is higher.

Generation Opportunity is based in Virginia, but Mr. Feinberg said the campaign would be national. The group received $5 million last year from Freedom Partners, a nonprofit with ties to Charles G. and David H. Koch, according to tax filings. Mr. Feinberg said he worked at the Charles Koch Institute before joining Generation Opportunity earlier this year.

One of the videos shows a nurse escorting a young woman into an exam room, saying, “I see you chose to sign up for Obamacare.” It then shows the young woman in a hospital gown, putting her feet in stirrups for a gynecological exam. Then the Uncle Sam character pops up at the end of the exam table, the young woman screams, and the words, “Don’t let government play doctor” and “Opt out of Obamacare” flash on the screen.

The videos quickly drew criticism from supporters of the health care law. Brad Woodhouse, president of Americans United for Change, a left-leaning advocacy group, called them “sick, dishonest, vile and dangerous ads to scare young people into going without health insurance.”

Ilyse Hogue, president of Naral Pro-Choice America, said in a statement that the video featuring the young woman “not only defiles our American mascot but disturbingly compared the A.C.A. to sexual assault.”

Mr. Feinberg dismissed such criticism, saying, “All the ad suggests is that Uncle Sam will play doctor.”

He added: “I’ll tell you this, we got some early feedback from folks on college campuses. A lot of people are planning on dressing as Creepy Uncle Sam for Halloween.”

Cochran Makes a Fund-Raising Push as He Eyes Re-election

Senator Thad Cochran, Republican of Mississippi and one of the Senate’s longest-serving members, is stepping up his fund-raising amid speculation that he might retire instead of run for re-election next year.

Mr. Cochran, who was first elected in 1978, has three high-dollar fund-raisers scheduled in the Washington, D.C., area over the next two months, according to e-mails his finance staff circulated to donors this week.

He is hosting a breakfast Friday morning at a Capitol Hill restaurant, charging $500 for individuals and $1,000 for political action committees. Next month, Mr. Cochran will attend another, pricier breakfast featuring former Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi at Mr. Barbour’s namesake Washington lobbying firm. And in November, the senator is staging what he’s billing as a “fall retreat” at a tony new resort in Middleburg, Va.

The Virginia gathering, which costs PACs $2,500 to attend and individuals $1,500, is particularly raising eyebrows among staffers and lobbyists. Further, Mr. Cochran has become more of a presence of late at other political events. He turned up Wednesday evening at a Washington fund-raiser for Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, for example.

Most members of Congress who are leaning toward retirement ease off the fund-raising circuit. But Mr. Cochran, who had nearly $774,000 on hand as of the end of June, is stocking his war chest to be prepared to run for a seventh term. Senate-watchers believe that the longtime Republican has not definitively decided to run again, but is closely eying the possibility of his party regaining the majority next year, which could enable him to take over as chairman of the Appropriations Committee in what could be his final term.

Mr. Cochran, who will turn 76 in December, is unlikely to face a serious threat should he run for re-election. But for the purposes of the Republican Senate campaign committee, his running would likely ensure that they do not have to devote money or much consideration to Mississippi. Mr. Cochran’s retirement would trigger an intense primary among a new generation of Republicans in the conservative state who for years watched both their senior senator and former Senator Trent Lott returning to Washington year after year.

Sources close to Mr. Cochran say that they work under the assumption that he will run again, but caution that the senator has yet to make any pronouncements about his plans for 2014.