TECHNOLOGY

Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, Twitter Can Sell the New Health Law to You!

Updated: February 10, 2012 | 5:59 p.m.
February 10, 2012 | 5:46 p.m.

Health-policy wonks got a little light relief on Friday with a new Twitter hashtag started by a Health and Human Services Department staffer.

There wasn’t much response when Emma Sandoe tweeted: “I would competitively bid for you #healthpolicyvalentines” a little after 9 o'clock on Thursday night.

“I thought it would be funny to do one every day,” Sandoe, a health-policy analyst, said in a telephone interview. “I just stopped paying attention after 10.30 or so. I started being a normal person and not paying attention to Twitter.”

But the Twitterverse never sleeps -- and journalists, policy watchers and health care junkies started coming up with their own bits of doggerel and puns (the Twitter handles have been stripped to protect the guilty):

  • "There's no marriage penalty in my#healthcare reforms!"
  • "I hope you will accept my benefit package."
  • "Roses are red, violets are blue, I could never ration my love for you."
  • "I'll cover your Viagra if you cover my Plan B."
  • "I promise that my love for you will grow faster than GDP+1"
  • "I know I'm being inpatient, but how about a private exchange?"

“I was kind of shocked this morning when I saw everything on my phone,” Sandoe said, laughing.

“Omg I never started a twitter hashtag that worked,” she finally tweeted.

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