Congressman Cory Gardner’s campaign is out with another ad that aims to link incumbent Senator Mark Udall to the Affordable Care Act and resulting health care policy cancellations. This, the second ad in two weeks, also features Gardner speaking directly to the camera, an own-the-slam approach pioneered in this race by Udall condemning Gardner’s record of supporting personhood.
“Mark Udall has voted with President Obama 99 percent of the time. I just wish that one percent had ben a vote against Obamacare,” Gardner begins his latest ad.
He quickly ties Udall to the same inaccurate phrases which have haunted Obama since the roll-out of the ACA — namely, “If you like your plan you can keep it.”
Gardner goes on to say that some 335,000 Coloradans have had their health plans cancelled since the roll-out. Gardner himself is famously among them.
“When we found out the real number, Mark Udall tried to cook the books,” says Gardner. “He tried to get them to change the number because he was afraid if the people really found out what happened with Obamacare that he could lose his election.”
That was back in January. At the time Udall’s shop said there were disputes about what “termination” really meant and about whether the figure should only represent phased-out plans where the insurer offered no renewal of any duration. According to the Colorado Division of Insurance 95 percent of the cancelled plans in 2013 came with the option to renew at least into 2014. Udall also sponsored a bill in November of 2013 to give people with cancelled plans another two years of coverage before they’d have to buy an ACA-approved version. The cancellation definition and figure debate resulted in a lot of back and forth over whether or not Udall staffers had intimidated folks at the Division.
Gardner concludes the spot , titled “Coloradans Deserve Real Health Care Reform,” by saying that the issue is not about election-year politics but about the people of Colorado. The ad does not, however, give the people of Colorado much insight into what the real health care reform they deserve might look like, or where to find out more about it, something the team Udall was quick to point out.
“The Affordable Care Act had a rough start, and that’s inexcusable,” said Kristin Lynch, a spokesperson for the Udall campaign. “We must fight to make it work for Colorado, and Mark has done just that. Congressman Gardner, on the other hand, has voted 50 times to go back to a time when insurance companies could jack up your rates, cut your coverage, pocket your cash and then drop you if you got sick.”
Here is the new ad:
[ACA protest shot by Tabitha Kaylee Hawk]
