I always figured that the woman who greeted Americans at the Obamacare website was a stock photo model. It turns out that the face that once adorned the troubled Healthcare.gov website doesn’t belong to an Obamacare supporter. It also doesn’t belong to a US citizen.
“Adriana” spoke to ABC News, saying that she was never paid for the family photo that until recently fronted Healthcare.gov. Immediately after the site’s (failure to) launch, she became the subject of jokes and online hate. Stephen Colbert called her “that vaguely ethnic smiling woman.” The Onion Photoshopped her looking worried about the site.
Her citizenship also became the subject of scrutiny.
Speculation swirled that Adriana might not be a legal resident of the United States, and therefore not even eligible for the health care exchanges. Adriana said she is a wife and mother who lives in Maryland with her 21-month-old son and husband of six and a half years. Her husband is a U.S. citizen, as is his her son. Adriana, who is Colombian, said she has lived legally in the U.S. for more than six years, is currently a permanent resident and is applying for citizenship.
Though she is eligible for healthcare through the ACA, Adriana says she hasn’t signed up for it, and is neither in favor nor against it.
She says she asked HHS to take her photo down. HHS has replaced it with icons, but denies that it took the photo down at Adriana’s request. Given the Obama government’s track record of lying to sell Obamacare and concealing enrollment numbers more than a month after its launch, it’s a safe bet that it is even lying about why it took Adriana’s photo off the site.
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