Shameless and deceptive anti Obamacare ads flood Colorado

Indeed, an anti Senator Mark Udall ad  running in our market says  Obamacare ( ACA) is “about people”, but the” people” referenced in the ad  are  not  about the   7.1 million who signed up for private insurance through federal and state ACA exchanges  ,  or in Colorado 277,149,  who signed up  as of  March 31 for either commercial health insurance or Medicaid’s expanded version. The anti Udall ad shamelessly exaggerates  the numbers as "millions and millions"    who  could  not sign up after their insurance policies were cancelled .  The GOP mantra,”repeal Obamacare” ,  means that coverage  would be taken away from those “people” for whom it worked to get covered, especially  nasty for the 9 .3 who never had  health insurance before.
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A Rand Corporation's study reported in the LA Times, March 30, 2014 (Obamacare has led to health coverage for millions more people), found that  4.5 million previously uninsured adults signed up for state Medicaid programs which were expanded to include more by the ACA, 3 million young adults took advantage of the ACA provisions allowing them to stay on their parents' insurance.. 9.5 million who got insurance thanks to ACA provisions were previously uninsured.

The ACA made it possible for at least 15 million to get insurance. if one adds the 7.1 million plus who bought insurance through the state and federal exchanges,  exchanges, the 4.5 million who got Medicaid  thanks to its expansion, and the 3 million young adults who now could stay on their parents' plans,   15 million is a number in the ball park.

Ads have already begun in Colorado, tying Udall to Obamacare (ACA), attempting to bring attention to the fewer who drew the short stick instead of the far more who benefitted.    One, against Obamacare, sponsored by the Koch Brothers, was very deceptive,.  That one featured an angry woman who lost her individual insurance and was suffering, though that she could find alternatives was never even suggested.

 The “about people ad” is a good example of hyping the ACA shortcomings, claiming   “millions and millions” lost their insurance and could not get a replacement. The Washington Post fact checker hit that one hard. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/03/25/new-anti-obamacare-ad-makes-misleading-claims-video) Per a recent survey by the Rand Corporation,  fewer than a million people who had health plans in 2013 cancelled  are not uninsured  now.  the Rand survey reported in the same LA Times article above.  "We are talking about a very small fraction of the country" who lost coverage, said Katherine Carman, a Rand economist who is overseeing the survey.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-obamacare-uninsured-national-20140331,0,5472960.story#ixzz2xkg9oyA7   That is  certainly a negative for those in that predicament, but it is  not the “millions and millions” the ad claims.

 Most deceptive was  the claim in the ad that Obamacare forced persons to pay more for less coverage .  Come, come. T he reason those who had individually purchased catastrophic policies got the discontinue notices  was because it did not offer enough coverage Obamacare deemed basic. 

It is such a shame hospitals will see cuts to government subsidies, whines another   ad, implying reduction in  Medicare services to your parents and grandparents. Here’s why that line is so deceptive : so many more will now have health insurance,  uncompensated charity care hospitals must cover  is less; and that hospitals will be held to higher standards, such as reducing readmissions due to sloppy infection prevention practices and unneeded, repetitive tests.

In fact, The Congressional Budget Office projects that a decade has been added to the life of Medicare due to the cost saving measures. Of course,  no benefits are being cut  by Obamacare and traditional Medicare is preserved.  Even Medicare Advantage serving 28% of seniors is projected to continue. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/aug/19/will-obamacare-hurt-medicare-advantage/

Expect future ads to claim Obamacare “is” not working because “in the future” premiums will soar as insurance companies drop out for lack of customers or not enough healthy sign up, causing a “death spiral”    Those are scare tactics.   The ACA foresaw that and insurers will be subsidized to keep policies low until the free-riders feel the pain of ever increasing penalties in the next couple of years. The Congressional Budget office estimates it will take three years for all qualified to sign up. Even if young, invincibles fail  to constitute 40% of the sign ups, mid 20%s will still be enough for the “death spiral” not to happen, per the Kaiser Family Foundation. (latimes.com/business/hiltzik: March 31, 2014, "Obamacare numbers coming in huge: Here's a guide to GOP excuse-making) .
From Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF.org...Metrics are mostly wrong)
"How about the percentage of young people? Everyone seems focused on that.  Young people benefit the risk pool because they are healthier, but it’s really the percentage of healthy people that make or break the risk pool. Even if enrollment of young adults stays where it is – at about one-quarter instead of 40%, which our analysis shows they make up among potential enrollees – premiums would only increase by two to three percent. Though even that isn’t quite right, since many insurers expected this and already built it into their premiums.  Nevertheless, news organizations continue to hammer enrollment by young adults as if it were the sole make-it or break-it factor to the health of the risk pools and, in some news reports, the law.  There  are no data yet on the overall health of enrollees because the law no longer allows insurers to collect that data in order to exclude people with pre-existing conditions from coverage."

For a very comprehensive fact check similar to this, go to http://news.yahoo.com/millions-lost-insurance-214739724.html  published 4/11/2014