February 22, 2017 09:50 AM UTC

Truth Test: Mike Coffman's Mythical ACA "Replacement"

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• by: Colorado Pols

We wrote last Friday about Rep. Mike Coffman’s so-called “listening tour,” underway this week to gain insight on the effects of the Affordable Care Act in Colorado ahead of upcoming votes to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature health reform law. Coffman’s “listening tour” stood in contrast, among many other contradictions, to an ad campaign running in Colorado right now praising Coffman for a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare that they claim he already has.

Obviously, only one of these can be true!

9NEWS’ Brandon Rittiman took a critical look at this pro-Coffman ad campaign last night in a Truth Test:

CLAIM: Our healthcare system isn’t working. Mike Coffman has a plan to fix it.
VERDICT: Overstatement

Mike Coffman doesn’t have a plan to replace Obamacare, but his staff points out he “does have some very specific principles that he expects to see included in the plan to replace the Affordable Care Act.”

That is not the kind of thing you’d write if the plan was actually done…

Coffman’s office told us he wants to keep the changes Obamacare made for pre-existing conditions, the ability for parents to keep children on their plans until age 26, and maintaining coverage for people who gained it under the ACA—including the Medicaid expansion, which has been criticized by some of Coffman’s fellow Republicans.

In any case, we’ve seen some G-O-P proposals to replace Obamacare, but since they haven’t settled on one we can’t really fact check those promises yet.

Rittiman goes on to debunk most of the horror story bullet points in the ad, or at least give them some context. There’s no attempt to bridge the enormous gap between what Coffman says he wants preserved from the ACA and any GOP replacement plan that’s been publicized. In the end, the spot is fundamentally deceptive to the point of quite honestly being a waste of everyone’s time:

And that gets us to the bottom line: this ad is glossing over the fact Republicans have yet to unite behind a plan on healthcare in an effort to make you think it’s going to be awesome, no matter what plan they end up with.

Because it’s…wait for it…not “Obamacare!”

As long as you pesky reporters don’t ask any more questions, this should all work out fine.