UPDATE II:
The Washington Post later reported that Obama had already signed up for the plan over the weekend.
UPDATE:
Late Monday morning, news broke that the deadline to sign up had been secretly extended. You can read about that update in our follow-up story.
Original story below.
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President Barack Obama reportedly signed up for the "Bronze" health insurance plan on HealthCare.gov this weekend, troubled healthcare plan today from his vacation in Hawaii, ending weeks of questions as to when the president would log on to HealthCare.gov to buy insurance from the marketplace.
President Barack Obama, right, and first lady Michelle Obama, left, walk over to meet various well wishers after disembarking Air Force One at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Honolulu. The first family will be spending their annual winter vacation in Hawaii and return to Washington on Jan. 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
This was first reported by American Urban Radio Network reporter April Ryan on Twitter.
“Just off phone w/Valerie Jarrett @VJ44 POTUS will sign up for for Health Insurance on the Market place by the end of today 2 lead by example,” Ryan said in the tweet at 4:59 a.m.
Obama is taking the action at the final date possible to be signed up for Obamacare by Jan. 1, 2014.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney twice declined to answer reporter questions this month as to when Obama would sign up.
The president of course is already covered by health insurance but is making the move to prove he is willing to abide by the rules of his signature legislative achievement.
Anton Gunn, the director of external affairs for the Department of Health and Human Services, who has been a top spokesman for the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, tweeted back to Ryan, “Me too.”
One of the government's most outspoken defenders of the Affordable Care Act, Gunn is leaving the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to start his own consulting business.
The move by Obama to sign up comes days after the Obama administration announced the delay of the individual mandate for those who lost their existing insurance.
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