WH not dropping ‘ObamaCare’ term

The White House on Thursday said it was not dropping the use of “ObamaCare” after President Obama said earlier this week that his administration needed to “remarket and rebrand” the law.

“No, I think the president has taken on that — you know, that was a label that was applied by our opponents and welcomed with open arms by this president and our allies,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

{mosads}The Washington Free Beacon reported that the president referred to the Affordable Care Act by its full name a dozen times during his press conference apologizing for the botched rollout last week but never used the phrase ObamaCare. 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said at an event hosted by BuzzFeed that she “always called it the Affordable Care Act.”

“Everyone may not like Obama, but everyone loves affordable. I love them both,” she said.

There could be a polling advantage in the switch. A CNBC poll earlier this year showed that 46 percent of Americans surveyed said they opposed ObamaCare, while 37 percent said they opposed the Affordable Care Act — two terms describing the same law.

But Earnest insisted there was “no 21st century Don Draper that’s dropped by the Oval Office with suggestions.”

“The point that the president was trying to make is that people have understandably — many people have understandably been frustrated with the flawed rollout of the website,” Earnest said. “And it would be a shame if that experience soured them on the broader law.”

Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services stopped using “exchanges” to describe the portals through which individuals could purchase health insurance under ObamaCare. Instead, the department materials began referring to insurance “marketplaces” in each state.