Today, The Pump Handle had its own bizarre experience with the Trump Administration. It came via an email sent by HHS spokesperson Matt Lloyd to members of the Association for Health Care Journalists. Some of those professionals were reporting on the data released today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on insurance enrollment on Healthcare.gov. The 90-day open enrollment period ended this week.

CMS’s plain-spoken news release indicates that 9.2 million individuals selected plans from the ACA marketplace, including three million new consumers. Many of these Americans would not otherwise be able to purchase health insurance, but the marketplace provides access to the subsidies to help them pay the cost of the plans. What’s also notable about the 9.2 million is something else from CMS’ new release. The agency notes that the average premium for a low-cost silver plan increased by 25% and the number of insurers offering plans on Healthcare.gov decreased by 28%. So, despite the insurance industry’s profiteering, 9.2 million individuals used the ACA exchange to secure health insurance. That’s a good thing.

Then came the email from the HHS spokesman. It starts out “Hey folks” (such an annoying unprofessional salutation.)  Read it for yourself:

Wierd. Just wierd.

The HHS spokesperson provides an unsolicited statement to the press in response to a news release coming from one HHS’s own agencies?

Not on the top of the list of bizarre incidents coming from Trumpies, but too odd for The Pump Handle to ignore.

P.S. Matt Lloyd worked for the VP Pence when he was Governor of Indiana and before that a communications director for Koch Industries.