"DOGE stopped an annual payment to Barack Obama for $2.6 million for 'royalties associated with Obamacare.' He's been collecting since 2010 for a total of $39 million taxpayer dollars," reads text over an image, posted to Facebook on February 27, 2025 and shared more than 25,000 times.
Similar posts, accusing the former president of profiting from a trademark of "Obamacare," the popular name for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, enacted in 2010, also spread on X, TikTok and Instagram.
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Screenshot of post from Facebook, captured on February 27, 2025
Since starting his second term in January, Donald Trump has vowed to slash government spending, and in a joint interview with Musk on Fox News said that the DOGE team headed by the tech billionaire has become an enforcement mechanism within the federal bureaucracy to enact his administration's agenda.
Musk has used his social media platform X to amplify his team's positions, while also sharing unproven allegations about fraud identified in government agencies.
The claim that the government was paying royalties to the former president is also incorrect.
A search of the US Patent and Trademark Office database showed no registered trademark for "Obamacare" or the name "Obama."
The search turned up applications from 12 private companies, unrelated to the former president, 11 of which were denied because of their reference to a public figure (archived here). One is still pending.
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