With President Obama’s approval rating in the tank, what does that mean for a senator who has voted with him 99 percent of the time?
During the Denver Post debate Tuesday night, Republican challenger Cory Gardner slammed Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) for his association with the president and the broken promises that followed in suit.
“Three primary promises were made when Obamacare passed," Gardner explained.
"The first promise that was made was that ‘if you like your health care plan you can keep it.’ Senator Udall broke his promise. The second promise: ‘if you liked your doctor, you could keep your doctor.’ Senator Udall broke his word. The third promise: ‘this will lower the cost of healthcare,’ that was the third promise. Senator Udall broke his word. And in fact, at a debate just yesterday he said it will still increase.”
Sen. Udall claimed in a 2008 Senate debate that he was “not for a government run-solution” for healthcare reform. Despite this, Udall voted in support of the Affordable Care Act.
“We did just what I suggested we should do, which is put people in charge of their health insurance,” Udall said Tuesday in his defense.
“That’s what the Affordable Care Act does. Insurance companies were running our system, we had a broken system. If you were a woman, you were charged more. If you or someone in your family had a pre-existing condition good luck getting the coverage you needed. If someone got sick in your family your rates could be jacked up or you could literally be dropped off your policy. The system was flat-out broke.”
Udall claimed that Obamacare puts people back in charge of their insurance. Gardner contested the idea as he himself received a letter saying his family’s plan was canceled.
“We were one of the 340,000 people who Senator Udall broke his promise to,” Gardner claimed.
“The promise that if we liked our health care plan, we could keep it. We chose a plan that we could afford. A plan that best fit our needs. As did 340,000 other Coloradans.”
While Senator Udall claimed that "in Colorado we work together," Gardner pointed out that Obamacare was passed on partisan lines and not a single Republican voted for it.
“Senator Udall promised that [Coloradans] could keep their health care plan if they liked it,” Gardner stated, “He didn’t say ‘if I like your plan, you can keep it.’ But that is exactly what happened.”
Just remember that 99 percent of the time, Udall has Obama's back.
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