Trump Administration to Slash Obamacare Advertisement Funding

Despite promising to put an Obamacare repeal bill on President Donald Trump’s desk on day one of the new administration, it took months before congressional Republicans held an Obamacare repeal vote. That happened despite Republicans passing laws to repeal Obamacare countless times during Barack Obama’s presidency, knowing he would veto every single repeal bill.

With a Republican in the White House, we were told it would be different – that Obamacare would actually be repealed. Things, of course, didn’t turn out that way.

Rather than focus on the repeal, Republicans shifted to a discussion of what they would replace Obamacare with, presumably in response to liberal fear-mongering over lost coverage. Before a doctor removes a cancerous tumor from a patient, he doesn’t think about what he’s going to replace it with. But such was the logic of the Republicans in Congress, who instead opted to try to pass a “skinny repeal” that removed parts of Obamacare but left much of the law in place.

That failed too.

Thankfully, there are still a number of ways to kill Obamacare by striking at its heart – whether that be through targeting the individual mandate, or attempting to defund the law. According to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the Obama Administration began confiscating the profits of government housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (changing the conditions of their bailout) once it became evident that the institutions would be profitable after the 2008 crisis. Those funds were then, in turn, used to help pay for Obamacare. Mnuchin supports privatizing the companies, and the current head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (the agency that regulates Fannie and Freddie) supports suspending the so-called “net worth sweep” (profit confiscation).

But thus far, neither of those things have happened. That doesn’t mean Trump isn’t doing everything in his power to defund any parts of Obamacare. In fact, the Trump Administration just made a big announcement regarding Obamacare funding that has liberals fuming:

The Trump administration plans on making a 90 percent cut to the advertising budget for Obamacare during the upcoming enrollment period.

In 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services spent $100 million on Obamacare advertising and outreach, but for this year’s open enrollment period, CMS plans on spending $10 million.

They also plan on cutting grant money for Navigator programs (which are required by the ACA), which receive funds to assist with public enrollment in Obamacare. Navigator programs in this upcoming enrollment period will only receive funding based on their performance during the previous enrollment period. If a Navigator program, for example, only reached 70 percent of its enrollment goal, they will only receive 70 percent of the previous year’s funding in the next enrollment period.

H/T ABC News

It’s hardly ideal, but it’s a start. And, as an added bonus, liberals are freaking out over it.

https://twitter.com/sarahkliff/status/903370917006454785

This budget cut is better than nothing. Hopefully Republicans will take this as a sign to fully repeal Obamacare for good!

What do you think? Is this a good move by Trump? Should Obamacare advertising be cut? Tell us what you think below, and share this story on Facebook and Twitter!