White House officials shared plans Thursday to withdraw ads encouraging Americans to sign up for health insurance through HealthCare.gov in the final days before the open enrollment period for 2017 coverage closes, then reversed that decision Friday afternoon.
[Update] As of 5 p.m. CST Friday, Politico reported the Trump administration reversed its decision to stop outreach regarding health insurance enrollment under the ACA exchanges. HHS officials on Friday said automatic phone calls and other online and digital outreach — including Twitter messages and emails — would continue through the Jan. 31 deadline for obtaining coverage.
Early Friday, Politico reported that HHS officials said ads that had already been paid for and placed were being withdrawn ahead of the Jan. 31 deadline. In addition, media outreach about signing up and emails distributed to those with incomplete applications have been suspended, according to the report.
An HHS spokesperson said Thursday the "federal government has spent more than $60 million promoting the open enrollment period. We have pulled back roughly $5 million of the final placement in an effort to look for efficiencies where they exist," according to NYT.
In the last few years, the final days of open enrollment have been coupled with a large number of last-minute enrollees, according to the report.
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