President Donald Trump has slashed the Obamacare advertising budget from $100m to $10m ahead of the upcoming Obamacare open enrollment.
There will also be a cut in funding for 'navigators', who help people enroll in Obamacare health insurance plans, by 41% to $36.8m.
In a statement, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said: "CMS plans to spend $10m on promotional activities in order to meet the needs of new or returning affordable act care (ACA) enrollees – consistent with promotional spending on Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D. CMS will target its advertising and outreach activities to educate consumers on the new dates of the Open Enrollment Period through digital media, email, and text messages.
"These outreach methodologies have proven the most effective in reaching existing and new enrollees. During the most recent open enrollment period, CMS spent more than $100m on promotional activities – nearly double what was spent in 2015 – but saw first-time enrollment decline by 42 percent and effectuated enrollment decline by approximately 500,000 individuals."
The announcement was received with mixed response on Twitter.
Obamacare tweeted
And Democrat Mike Levin tweeted : "Trump's reckless pursuit to try to get the ACA to fail is potentially a violation of the Constitution. Shameful."
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