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Young Illinoisan and ACA Enrollee, Erin McDonald, Named Winner of Healthy Young America Video Contest

The Associated Press

CHICAGO — A young Illinois resident has won the grand prize in a national video contest aimed at promoting health insurance to young adults.

The advocacy group Young Invincibles and the Department of Health and Human Services announced this week that Chicagoan Erin McDonald’s video, “Forget About the Price Tag,” won the $2,000 prize.

McDonald is a 26-year-old law school graduate and has Type 1 diabetes. She tells The Associated Press that she was able to sign up for insurance recently under Cook County’s early expansion of the Medicaid program. Cook County expanded Medicaid a year ahead of the Affordable Care Act.

Her video is a parody of the song “Price Tag” by Jessie J with new lyrics mentioning the law’s guarantee of coverage despite pre-existing conditions.