By Anna Gauldin
Following the controversial rollout of the so-called Affordable Care Act last year, Rep. Cory Gardner spent the early part of his senatorial campaign working to associate his opponent, Sen. Mark Udall, with the contentious health care program.
An ad released by Gardner’s campaign Aug. 11 focuses on just this topic, attacking Udall for his support of Obamacare and how it has played out in Colorado. The commercial features a red-shirted Gardner standing in front of his home, near his mailbox with mail in hand. With piano music playing softly in the background and an American flag waving in the breeze, he discusses his own family’s involvement with the ACA.
Gardner points to Udall’s promise that people could keep their existing health care plans, saying his own family received a cancellation letter. Some 335,000 additional Coloradans had their plans canceled, too, Gardner says. The ad concludes by stating: “More cancellations are on the way. You might have one of those letters in your mailbox right now.”
A number of claims are crammed into this 30-second spot. Let’s break them down below.
Note: Gardner has since backed off the ACA in his advertising as different issues have become more important to voters. Read more in this article from The Denver Post.
Breaking it Down
CLAIM 1: “When Mark Udall voted for Obamacare, he promised us if we liked our health care plan, we could keep it.”
True: In this 2009 with Fox 21 News, Udall said:
“If you have an insurance policy you like, doctor or medical facility that provides medical services to you, you’ll be able to keep that doctor or that insurance policy.”
Of course, President Obama and his administration were making the same promise. At least 37 times, according to . Even so, this claim receives an A. It is true.
CLAIM 2: “I got a letter saying my family’s plan was canceled.”
This NPR mentions Gardner’s letter of cancellation, as does this KDVR . You can see a copy of the letter Gardner’s family received , although certain information has been redacted. In fact, since first discussing the letter last year, Gardner has repeatedly refused to release specifics about his policy cancellation. In The Post last week, he dodged a question seeking more information on the matter.
Plus, as this PolitiFact from last year points out, members of Congress are required to enroll in insurance policies through the marketplaces established by the ACA. With or without the letter, then, Gardner would have needed to choose a new insurance plan. In short, Gardner made things sound worse than they really were.
This claim receives a B. The statement is true, but the missing information could have changed how it was interpreted. Since Gardner has refused to release specifics, we do not know what other information may be missing.
CLAIM 3: “335,000 Coloradans had their plans canceled, too.”
As this from The Post reveals, roughly 335,500 Coloradans did receive letters saying their plans did not meet the new regulations under the ACA. The ad fails to mention, however, that 92 percent of those people were offered the option to renew their existing policies early.
Plus, when it came to light that large numbers of Coloradans were going to receive these letters, Udall pushed forward legislation that would allow Americans to keep existing plans for up to two more years (read story ). Soon after, President Obama on a similar course of action. He left it up to state regulators and insurance companies to extend existing plans up to three years, meaning many people’s plans weren’t canceled after all. In a from May of this year, Gardner’s own campaign wrote:
“Today, the Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI) announced that it will allow insurance carriers to continue health plans for individuals and small groups that do not comply with the minimum coverage requirements of the President’s healthcare law through 2015.”
Considering this, the number of cancellation letters does not appear to equate to the number of people whose plans were actually canceled. The majority of people were allowed to keep their plans.
“The promise made by Sen. Udall and President Obama was, if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan,” said Alex Siciliano, a spokesperson for the Gardner campaign. “The promise was not, if you like your health care plan, you can keep them until 2015. All the Democrats have done is just delay the cancellations — the plans are still getting canceled.”
This claim receives a D. It is true that 335,000 letters were distributed but untrue that 335,000 cancellations occurred. The claim is misleading and the majority of its information is untrue.
CLAIM 4: “Thousands of families saw their health care premiums rise.”
This claim is true but also misleading, since health care premiums were rising long before the ACA was passed. According to the , health care premiums have been rising dramatically since at least 2000. Ultimately,
“The Affordable Care Act made quality health care more affordable for hundreds of thousands of Coloradans, but health care costs continue to rise at unsustainable rates.”
also reports rising premiums from 2003 to 2011 across the nation, including a drastic increase in Colorado.
What’s more, reports that Colorado is actually home to some of the lowest premium increases in the country this year at only 3 percent. In past years, rates in Colorado’s individual market have increased anywhere from 5.9 to 9.9 percent, according to the nonpartisan .
This claim receives a B. The statement is true but missing important contextual information.
CLAIM 5: “More cancellations are on the way. You might have one of those letters in your mailbox right now.”
As Gardner’s press release pointed out, the Colorado Division of Insurance granted extensions through the end of 2015. But, according to the , insurance companies are not required to continue their non-ACA-compliant plans, meaning some could indeed be canceling policies this year.
The numbers will be much lower than last year, though, and the number of cancellations “on the way” is limited. The headline of this from the New York Times sums it up nicely: “Health Plan Cancellations Are Coming, but for Relatively Few.” As the article points out:
“This year is different for two reasons. One is that the number of cancellations is so much smaller. The other is that, in many cases, the law does not require companies issuing the plans to cancel them.”
This claim receives an A, since it is true. It is important to note, though, that the government is not at all involved in any Colorado cancellations this year, and most Coloradans do not have those letters in their mailboxes.
Overall, this ad receives a B. Averaging the five claims, it finished with a 3.0 GPA.
