January 18, 2017 11:28 AM UTC

Gardner Obamacare Repeal Misdirection Continues

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• by: Colorado Pols

We took note of word last Friday that Sen. Cory Gardner was in town for the long holiday weekend, and expressed hoped that the local press would be able to press him for answers about the impending repeal of the Affordable Care Act–a process that began last week with Senate votes presided over by Gardner, who had the job of gaveling down Democrats attempting to lodge a protest to the action.

On Monday, 9NEWS’ Kyle Clark did manage to extract this quote from Gardner:

Republican Senator Cory Gardner, who would not commit to having an Affordable Care Act replacement that covers everyone with insurance now:

“What we’re trying to is make sure that we fix the mess that Obamacare created. In Colorado, hundreds of thousands had their insurance canceled, despite the promise that they’d get to keep the plans that they liked. So if you heard Mike Enzi (a Republican Senator from Wyoming) on the floor of the Senate, when the first step to repeal and replace Obamacare was taken, he talked about building a transition to make that sure people who are currently enrolled are taken care of while we build a replacement plan that we can move to that’s better than Obamacare.”

As we’ve noted many times in this space, Gardner’s reference to “hundreds of thousands” of Coloradans who had their “insurance cancelled” is fundamentally misleading. In virtually all such cases, these were notices to renew to plans that comported with the ACA’s coverage standards. Those affected did not lose their health coverage, they renewed to plans that were compliant with the ACA.

And that’s key to understand. The rate of uninsured did not go up in Colorado under the ACA, it went down. Dramatically.

But what’s going to happen when Gardner repeals Obamacare? That’s the part we don’t know–but it’s a very good bet that the “replacement” will not cover as many people. And that means there will be Coloradans who are covered by Obamacare now who will lose their coverage. Lose it–and unlike the “cancellations” Gardner has grandstanded on for years, not get it back. That’s the difference between Gardner’s rhetoric and the reality of repealing the ACA, and no reporter should accept Gardner’s line about “hundreds of thousands of Coloradans having their insurance cancelled” under Obamacare without asking this obvious followup question.

With that said, we’re glad to see any questions being asked. Keep that up.