Obama Administration Purchases Google 'ObamaCare' Search Results

Type in a search of "ObamaCare" into Google -- the world's most popular search engine -- and the results may surprise you. According to Politico's Ben Smith, the Obama administration has purchased top billing to divert internet surfers away from antagonist websites to a new "sponsored link" -- the Department of Health and Human Service's (HHS) healthcare.gov:

"We are using a bunch of search term[s] to help point people to HealthCare.gov. Part of our online efforts to help get accurate information to people about the new law (i.e. also use Facebook, Twitter, blogs and webcasts)," an HHS official confirmed by e-mail.

The ad buy represents a kind of recognition that the Administration has, to a degree, lost a battle over defining its terms, and that "ObamaCare" -- coined and used largely by detractors of the plan -- is in wide circulation. A search for the term on Google yields 2.5 million results.