Obama promises "no memes" in final plea to sign up for Obamacare before deadline
Former President Barack Obama posted a video on Twitter Monday to remind his followers to sign up for health care coverage before a Saturday deadline, promising to "give it to you straight" instead of resorting to more light-hearted attempts at persuasion he's deployed in the past.
In the video, Mr. Obama says that due to the surge in support for the Affordable Care Act, he doesn't need to resort to taking selfies, making faces in a mirror or sitting between two ferns with comedian Zach Galifianakis to stress the importance of signing up for coverage.
"This year is different," Mr. Obama says in the 86-second clip. "Young people have stepped up like never before, on campuses, at the voting booth and at the doors of power."
But Mr. Obama's staff gets the last laugh towards the end of the video, adding dark glasses and a rainbow backdrop to the former president's video.
"You've got a filter on me, don't you?" Mr. Obama asks.
The video racked up nearly 2 million views within several hours.
While public support for the Affordable Care Act has grown since Mr. Obama left office, enrollment through the federal website healthcare.gov is down by 11 percent compared to last year, according to government figures released Thursday. In the first five weeks of this year's sign-up period, about 3.2 million people signed up for ObamaCare plans, compared with about 3.6 million at the same time last year.
The Trump administration has drastically cut funding for programs meant to help people sign up for coverage, and four cities have sued the administration over what they say is "a relentless campaign to sabotage, and ultimately, to nullify the law."
President Trump had promised to repeal Obamacare on the campaign trail, but full repeal-and-replace measures have failed in the Senate. However, the 2017 GOP tax cut bill eliminated Obamacare's individual mandate, meaning those without health insurance will not face fines beginning in 2019.
