- Trump Slashes Obamacare Advertising and Outreach Funds Los Angeles Times by Michael Hiltzik — President Trump talks incessantly about how the Affordable Care Act has failed. He has threatened to make it "implode." Now he has taken a major step toward making his own predictions and threats come true. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Thursday that it is cutting the advertising budget for the upcoming open enrollment period for individual insurance policies by a stunning 90 percent, to $10 million from last year's $100 million. The HHS also is cutting funds for nonprofit groups that employ "navigators," those who help people in the individual market understand their options and sign up, by roughly 40 percent, to $36.8 million from $62.5 million.