Report: Obama Administration Spent $77 Million to Promote Obamacare in 2016

The Obama administration spent more than $77 million to promote Obamacare in 2016, the New York Post reported.

Contracts obtained by the Post show that the federal government had a contract with Democratic-leaning PR firm Weber Shandwick, where the government paid the firm $74.15 million on July 28, 2016, and an additional $3.69 million on September 9, 2016, to promote the plan.

Of that money, $64 million went to radio, television, and digital advertisements; $4 million went to creative development and production; $5 million to direct response marketing; $2 million to campaign strategy; $1 million to branding; and $1.5 million to encourage small business enrollment.

An official from the Trump administration dismissed the efforts of the Obama administration to make a last-ditch effort to boost enrollment.

“Tens of millions in hard-earned taxpayer funds spent on TV ads won’t sell a fundamentally flawed approach to health care,” the official told the Post.

Pam Jenkins, president of Weber Shandwick, signed the contract. Obama selected the firm’s chairman, Jack Leslie, to be chairman of the U.S. African Development Foundation.

Leslie donated $1,000 to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and $2,700 to Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential bid.

On Monday, President Trump met with nine people who have suffered from the healthcare law’s high costs, telling them that he would put in its place a better plan that would “lower costs” and “expand choice.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Sunday that “nobody would be worse off financially” if Republicans in Congress made an effort to repeal and replace Obamacare with the House replacement plan.