A Karl Rove Crossroads GPS ad exaggerates a few personal anecdotes to claim "many Coloradans pay roughly 100 percent more for health insurance since Obamacare."
The ad, attacking Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, also tries to pin a shortage of doctors in rural areas on the health care law. The ad implies that the Affordable Care Act has affected the ratio of patients to doctors. But there's no evidence the law caused a change in the ratio of residents to primary care physicians or that the ACA caused a change in the scarcity of primary care doctors in rural Colorado.
Colorado Health Institute reported: "When you look closer, though, our study shows that while many areas have enough primary care physicians to care for the population, a number of others - primarily rural and underserved urban areas - likely do not have enough."
The ACA didn't cause the problem - after all, this is a ratio of the population to doctors, not how many patients each doctor has. And there isn't data with which to compare the study. The ad doesn't say this, but its claims on premiums are about the individual market, where 7 percent of Coloradans get their insurance. It also doesn't say that Coloradans living in rural and ski resort areas faced higher health costs before Obamacare. The rates won't say much about how premiums changed from before Obamacare to now.
The law changed the way insurers can price plans on the individual market, with policyholders switching plans or exiting the market after short periods of time. Before the law, insurers could price plans based on health status or decline coverage due to medical conditions. Obamacare required insurance companies to accept any applicant - regardless of pre-existing conditions - and premiums can only vary based on family size, geography and age and tobacco use. Prices can't be based on someone's health.
Gardiner's claim doesn't stand up
A television ad from Cory Gardiner says Udall staffers "bullied" the state insurance division to reduce reported insurance cancellations under Obamacare.
The Denver Post reported on Jan. 15, 2014, that "a neutral and objective panel from the executive director's office interviewed a number of Division of Insurance staff, collected and reviewed emails and other correspondence between the (division) and Sen. Udall's staff," wrote Department of Regulatory Agencies director Barbara Kelley in a letter to state Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument. Kelley said the review found no evidence of intimidation or coercion.
Gardiner claimed, "Under Obamacare, 355,000 Coloradans have received cancellations." In a letter to Gardner, the division's commissioner, Marguerite Salazar, said the number of Coloradans to receive cancellation notices as of Jan. 13 is about 335,500. "Ninety-two percent, or 308,840 people, were offered the opportunity of early renewal," she wrote.
According to a Gallup Well-Being report, Colorado had the fifth-largest drop in the U.S. for the uninsured: 17 percent to 11 percent.
Chip Tuthill is a longtime resident of Mancos. Source used: www.factcheck.org.