October 30, 2013 11:37 AM UTC

Gardner Rages At Sebelius Over "Brosurance"

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: A release from pro-health reform group Protect Your Care asks why Rep. Cory Gardner is beating this anti-Obamacare drum at all, given the good being done in his district by the Affordable Care Act right now:

“This just doesn’t make any sense,” said Trish Smith a Colorado native and retiree who has lived in Greeley for over thirty years. “This is a rural district with a lot of people who need access to health care. The Affordable Care Act helps residents of CD4 get the health care they need. Instead of trying to undermine it, he should be trying to help people understand it. And he should be urging other states to follow Colorado’s lead.”

In Congressman Gardner’s district, 81,000 seniors are now eligible for Medicare preventive services without paying any co-pays, coinsurance, or deductible. About  206,000 individuals in the district – including 53,000 children and 79,000 women – now have health insurance that covers preventive services without any co-pays, coinsurance, or deductible. Additionally, 100,000 individuals in CO-4 who lack health insurance will have access to quality, affordable coverage without fear of discrimination or higher rates because of a preexisting health condition.

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As Rep. Cory Gardner promised, above is a clip we were just forwarded from his very hostile questioning today of federal Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius over ads from a Colorado-based health care nonprofit, pitching insurance coverage on the state's new exchange marketplace. Here's a transcript of the above audio:

GARDNER: I would like to show you an advertisement that's going on in Colorado right now. This is an advertisement that a board member of the Colorado exchange has put forward. Do you agree with this kind of ad for Obamacare?

SEBELIUS: I, I can't see it, and again, if…

GARDNER: It's a college student doing a keg stand.

SEBELIUS: If the Colorado exchange did that they are…

GARDNER: Do you approve of this kind of advertising?

SEBELIUS: A state based marketplace.

GARDNER: Do you approve of this kind of advertising?

SEBELIUS: I don't see it, I don't know what it is, and I did not approve it. This is a state based marketplace.

GARDNER: That's a pretty big font. That's a pretty big picture of a keg. And you can't see it?

SEBELIUS: Do I approve of it? I've never even seen it.

GARDNER: You have the ability to opt-out, by the way, as a federal employee, you could take the insurance, so I would just encourage you to make that decision.

SEBELIUS: If I have available employer-based coverage, I am ineligible for the…

GARDNER: I would also like to submit a waiver for my district from Obamacare and hope you will consider waiving Obamacare for the 4th Congressional District.

FOX 31's Eli Stokols reports:

Colorado Congressman Cory Gardner was among the most boisterous of those questioning Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning over the problem-plagued Obamacare roll-out.

Gardner, R-Yuma, stuck to the script he laid out to FOX31 Denver on Monday, asking Sebelius if she approves of an edgy Colorado ad campaign urging young college-aged men and women to buy ‘Brosurance’ on the state’s new health insurance exchange…

Gardner also referred to the Brosurance campaign as something “that a board member of the Colorado exchange brought forward”, although the ad is actually the work of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and Progress Now, two progressive groups that are not associated with Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s exchange.

Gardner's fixation with the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative's "Got Insurance?" ads, in particular the "Brosurance" keg stand ad, makes very little sense to us. For one thing, he's doing more to promote the ads by showing them in this nationally-televised hearing than the groups that made them. Second, as Sebelius points out repeatedly, nobody in the federal government had even a bit of influence on this ad campaign. It doesn't help Gardner's credibility to repeatedly ask the question of whether Sebelius "approves" of something she very reasonably explains she and her department had nothing to do with. The fact is, the younger demographic targeted by these ads is exactly who Kathleen Sebelius needs to sign up for insurance coverage–so the help Rep. Gardner just gave publicizing the "Got Insurance" campaign today is probably much appreciated by its backers.

We had hoped that Sebelius would retort with a question about "Creepy Uncle Sam," which by the same standards Rep. Gardner should surely approve or disapprove of, but in the end it wasn't necessary. On balance, we'd say Gardner made a fool of himself without anybody's help.