President Obama’s former press secretary made a bold prediction Wednesday, telling a surprised audience that Obamacare’s controversial employer mandate will be dumped.

Speaking at a health benefits expo in Colorado Springs, Colo., Robert Gibbs called the mandate that companies with more than 100 employees offer “affordable” health benefits “a small part of the law,” saying, “I think it will be one of the first things to go,” benefitspro.com reported.

The mandate has already been delayed until 2016.

Gibbs, a close Obama advisor, listed other potential improvements that could be made in its stead, including giving the public more detailed information about the Affordable Care Act, increasing incentives for the critical “young people” demographic, upgrading technology and, perhaps most importantly, making sure health care has “an additional layer of coverage cheaper than the plans already offered.”

Despite all of Obamacare’s shortcomings, Gibbs expressed solid support for Obama’s foremost achievement, although he blanched when noting former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s infamous assertion that “we have to pass the legislation to find out what’s in it.”

“Status quo isn’t worth going back to,” he said, suggesting that Democrats should be responsive to positive change. “We need to have an honest discussion about improving and tweaking the law.”

Gibbs also spouted lots of superlatives that begged to be fact-checked, saying more people are covered than ever before, under-served areas now have more health centers, and a majority of Americans do not want Obamacare repealed.

 “The law has real potential to work,” he added, almost as a qualifier.

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