The rowdy town halls and protests that have come to define the health care debate have been dominated by the over-60 set, with young Americans largely giving up their place at the table. Despite being more likely to support health care reform than any other age group, they're still noticeably absent from the debate, whether because they don't understand the issue or don't think it affects them.

At a rally last Thursday on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park, President Obama tried to energize the young crowd, closing with a motivational call to action. "We need the voices of young people to transform this nation to meet up to the meaning of its dream," Obama said to cheers. "I need your voice."

So far, there's little evidence that Obama has won those voices.

The White House tried to reach young Americans by streaming the speech live on Facebook, but although the ive chat function had a healthy flow of comments, the event didn't make a dent on other social networks. It didn't crack the top 100 terms on Twitter on the day of the event, trailing topics like "The Office," "the vampire," and "Susan Boyle." Obama's only appearances in the top 100 trending Google searches that day was for his remarks on Kanye West.

The change from November is dramatic, when 66 percent of voters 18 to 29 went for Obama, easily his biggest margin in any age group. In Maine, where two centrist senators could be crucial to winning bipartisan support for reform, Obama took 67 percent of the youth vote. OFA is set on recapturing that support by including youth in its outreach and targeting information through peer networks.

"Nearly two-thirds of young people voted for the president, so it's about re-engaging those people, and I think they're eager to be re-engaged," said Addisu Demissie, political director at Organizing for America, an arm of the Democratic National Committee.

The administration's overtures to young voters are being matched by lobbying groups, as well. Rock the Vote produced a series of ads featuring celebrities such as Zach Braff and Donald Faison of the sitcom "Scrubs" and gossip blogger Perez Hilton. Fact sheets on the group's Web site encourage members to discuss the issue with friends and politicians and, in August, they held a press conference with Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and other lobbying groups.

"Young people have so much to lose or gain in this," said Heather Smith, executive director of Rock the Vote. "They're the most uninsured age group in the country. They are ultimately struggling to afford health care."

Still, young people have been difficult to reach and engage, largely because of an information gap. A Gallup poll out this month showed that while 34 percent of those ages 19 to 34 want their congressmen to vote for reform, almost as many (31 percent) weren't sure. That confusion, says Smith, comes from a lack of firsthand experience with health care.

Daniel Gharbawy said he didn't think about the issue until he stopped receiving coverage from his parents' plan when he turned 21. Gharbawy, now 25, hasn't been covered by any of his employers and says the anxiety of injury weighs on him the more he understands the consequences.

"As much as I've learned about my student loans, my own health wasn't an issue until I realized it was going to cost me a lot of money," Gharbawy said. "It took me losing my insurance and going two years without it before I realized it was important."

Gharbawy is one of the more than 20 million Americans ages 19 to 34 without health insurance, a number he wants to see changed. He shared his story with Rock the Vote in hopes that the group would use it to encourage more of his peers to talk about health care. That's no easy feat, however. Thierry Dongala, vice president of Americans for Generational Equality, said health care just isn't a sexy topic for young people.

"Who wants to talk about getting old?" Dongala said. "The issue seems to be for seniors, which is why young Americans have been so hands-off."

The key to winning young people's active support, Smith said, is explaining how the plan can help them. Under Obama's proposal, for example, young people would stay on their parents' insurance plan until their 26th birthday, automatically providing coverage to many just starting careers.

The plan, however, may not be good for all young Americans. They would be required to buy insurance under any individual mandate or face penalties as high as $950 in legislation from the Senate Finance Committee and 2 percent of their income in the House plan. They may face even higher costs after entering insurance pools with older and sicker Americans. Dongala said risks like that make it important for young people to engage with lawmakers on health care.

"In the long run, we don't want to subsidize a system that disproportionately affects us," Dongala said. "That's why it's important to at least have us informed and involved in the debate."

To get the word out, Americans for Generational Equality hopes to meet with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and representatives from the White House to set up town halls and outreach programs for young people. They're also distributing educational materials, but Dongala said it's been difficult to spread much policy information.

"It's almost like 140 characters is as much as you can educate people at a time on this issue," Dongala said, referring to the character limit of Twitter. "Status updates work. What's been most effective is these little blips of information."

Dongala said that he's also seen some of the most effective health care discussion take place on a personal level, with people sharing their own views and stories through Facebook or other social networks. Smith agreed, saying that people communicating with their peers was, so far, the best way of spreading information on health care.

Before Obama's rally, Dongala said he hoped that the president would explain to young people how the specifics of the plan would affect them. After the fact, though, he said that hadn't happened and that Obama has skimmed over the policy details. "He had to do that to keep it energizing," Dongala said. "The purpose was for him to gain some political capital."

Some of those efforts -- celebrity ads, T-shirt slogans, college rallies -- may feel a lot like a presidential campaign, not a legislative strategy. At the University of Maryland rally, Obama even brought back an election standby, leading the crowd in a chant of "Fired up... ready to go." That cheer is now being featured in a new ad the DNC is planning to run on national TV through the end of the week to rally supporters on health care.

Smith said that going back to the tactics that excited young voters in the election may be a good doorway to get them into the lawmaking process. "These voters were new to the polls in 2008," he said. "They're still figuring out how to insert themselves in this process."

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