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October 29, 2013 08:32 AM UTC

Gardner To "Confront" Sebelius With Colorado Nonprofit's Ads

  • 22 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
“Brosurance.” Courtesy the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative

FOX 31's Eli Stokols reports:

Gardner talked FOX31 Denver on Monday about his plans to question [Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen] Sebelius Wednesday when she answers questions from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

“It’s time for Kathleen Sebeilus to be transparent with the American people about her leadership and about the failings of Obamacare,” Gardner said. “People are months away from being fined for not buying a product that they literally cannot buy.”

…Gardner also plans to ask Sebelius about an edgy marketing campaign taking place in Colorado urging young people to sign up for health insurance.

One of the marketing ploys targets “bros” and shows a trio of college-aged young men doing a keg stand under the text: “Got Insurance?”

“Keg stands are crazy,” says that ad, urging young people to buy ‘Brosurance’. “Not having health insurance is crazier.” Gardner doesn’t think the campaign is very funny.

“I’m going to hold up a poster of the ‘Brosurance’ ad with the young people doing the keg stand and ask if she approves of these sorts of ads,” Gardner said. [Pols emphasis]

The "Brosurance" ad Rep. Cory Gardner is referring to was indeed launched last week in Colorado, but neither HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, nor anyone in government for that matter, had anything to do with it. The "Got Insurance" campaign was a production of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, a liberal-leaning health care group that's been around a lot longer than Barack Obama has been President. 

We can't help but contrast that much-discussed "Brosurance" ad (above right), about which we've heard opinions both pro and con in the last week, against another recent and privately-funded campaign from a conservative Koch brothers-linked group called Generation Opportunity. If Gardner thinks that Secretary Sebelius should answer for some random ad campaign from a Colorado nonprofit organization, we think Gardner should tell C-SPAN what he thinks of "Creepy Uncle Sam" popping up between that poor young co-ed's legs with a speculum.

But honestly, folks, this is probably the least relevant news item related to "Obamacare" in recent weeks that Gardner could pester a Cabinet-level official about. There are a host of legitimate issues regarding the troubled rollout of the health insurance exchange website(s), but if this is an indicator the legitimacy of the Republican "inquiry" into the system's breakdowns, Gardner and friends aren't going to be much actual help solving them.

But it could be pretty entertaining by C-SPAN standards! We'll update as the story develops.

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22 thoughts on “Gardner To “Confront” Sebelius With Colorado Nonprofit’s Ads”

  1. Ah, yes, the "deflection" tactic. Perhaps Sebilius can in turn ask him for his proof on the claims he made regarding the costs of his family health plan under ACA. Nothing but a lot of crickets since he launched that campaign. There are legitimate things he could bring up about ACA – but the relative success of the Colorado roll-out isn't one of them. 

  4. Cory is right – all of our priorities are all fucked up.  What we really need to be doing is to drop everything, including fixing healthcare.gov website failures, addressing NSA snooping on our allies,  and fixate on an ad with someone doing a keg stand.

    Gardner is a fucking manchild.

  5. It's relevant in that the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative received an ACA grant (federal money) to "ensure Colorado's online health insurance marketplace is working for Colorado consumers" (source: CCHI website).

    So, while Secretary Sebelius didn't design the ad, the federal government paid for it.

     

      1. Interesting, but not accurate. The assumption was the "ACA" grant was from federal funding. It was *for* work on ACA implementation from private foundations. No federal money involved. 

    1. It's certainly one of those ads that results in lots of free publicity. So, in that sense, it was an effective use of the spending — the bang for the buck factor. Which you'd think a conservative ought to be able to comprehend. I don't particularly like the ad, but that's neither here nor there.

  8. Secretary Sebelius is not responsible for how grants are used. However, I am not a fan of this particular ad. From a targeting point of view, I can think of several other ways to go. Although, I guess it was effective in that it got attention. Though I wonder if it got any "bros" attention.

    I support the ACA but I am concerned about the roll out. I hope that the website issues are quickly resolved and serious effort is put toward making the sign up process as streamlined as possible. 

    And because of the essential benefits mandate, I think there are many who knew that that some policies would no longer be available and there would be inevitable cancellations. Now, I believe the essential benefits is a necessary component of the ACA but I wish there had been more honesty around this from the ACA architects.

     

    1. Edna, I'm with you on the "brosurance" ad. I think it reinforces all of the stereotypes about young males: that they're immature, party too much, take too many risks, and have contempt for proper English. I've asked the young males in my life (i.e., my son and nephews) whether they think that these are actually selling points that will motivate them to shop for health insurance. The CCHI website has several other ads that I like better.

      Of course, Gardner's just feeding the far right base. I doubt if he actually has any real convictions of his own. It's also clear that the Republican House members would like to remove Sebelius from her job, thus further stalling and blocking ACA implementation.  I still maintain that this isn't merely a software design problem, but an interface with the states that refused to set up exchanges.

      I'm also with you on the "more honesty from ACA promoters would have been better". Not just on that some people have such crappy insurance that it doesn't meet standards and will need to be upgraded or cancelled.

      Here in Colorado, I would have liked to have known that I would have to apply for and get a decision from Medicaid before I would be able to shop for insurance on the exchange. It's been 3 weeks now, stil waiting to hear. 18,000 some people who tried to enroll on connectforhealthco were suddenly dumped into the Colorado social services system, so who knows how long it will all take. This seems to be a trend across the country in states which opted to expand Medicaid.

      All of which reinforces the argument that we should have been looking at a single payer system and beefing up the Colorado medicaid resources to meet the demand. healthcareforallcolorado.com has been working on this for awhile.

      So Gardner will keep on talking those points and trying to get press against the ACA, continuing to ignore the needs of people in his district. I don't know how he keeps getting re-elected. Bajillions in industry campaign finance helps.

       

      1. I sure would like to see single payer happen, it is certainly the best option to positively affect patient outcomes and the most affordable by far. However, reason doesn't rule here. 

    2. We can actually track some pretty interesting "bro" response – both on campus and in diverse places such as online body building forums; not to mention trivia nivht at the Irish Snug.

  10. I went to the doctor this morning for a checkup to manage a chonic condition, no co-payment. Of course my insurance is through my wife's employer but we are already seing the benefitsof the ACA.

      1. Somebody is paying for all healthcare.  That somebody probably includes you. That's kind of the point. We here in the US are just paying more for less than in any other modern industrialized country on earth because folks like you think getting what everybody else has, universal quality health care for half what we spend in the US, is a socialist plot.  Sure, it may cost less and make other countries industrial sectors more competitive but apparently there's something patriotic about not just paying but over paying for other people's healthcare through our stupid universal healthcare via ER system and also being the only people in the modern world at risk of going bankrupt over a health crisis. Who wouldn't want to fight tooth and nail for all that top dollar, high risk health care freedom?

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