DENVER (AP) – Colorado regulators cleared U.S. Sen. Mark Udall’s staff Tuesday of accusations they tried to bully the state’s insurance division into reducing its report of nearly 250,000 residents who had their health insurance canceled under the Affordable Care Act.
“A neutral and objective panel from the executive director’s office interviewed a number of Division of Insurance staff, collected and reviewed emails and other correspondence between the (division) and Sen. Udall’s staff,” Department of Regulatory Agencies Director Barbara Kelley wrote in a letter to Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument.
Stephens called on DORA, which oversees the Division of Insurance, last week to conduct the investigation. She did so after internal emails from November showed a director at the division felt Udall’s staff were unjustly trying to “trash” its claims that 250,000 Coloradans had policies canceled.
Kelley adds DORA’s review found “no evidence of any intimidation” and “the level of coercion by Sen. Udall and/or his staff was zero.”
Udall, who is up for re-election, has been assailed by Republicans for what they call an attempt to manipulate the original 250,000 figure for “political purposes.” A separate letter from the insurance division on Tuesday reported additional policy cancellations, giving Republicans more fuel in their assault of Udall for his support of the Affordable Care Act.
Stephens is among a handful of Republicans vying to unseat Udall in the November midterm federal elections, and on Tuesday, she down-played DORA’s review, which comes two days after she mailed her letter to the department calling for the review.
“The Department of Regulatory Agencies can run interference on behalf of Sen. Udall and his abusive staff, if it chooses, but the intimidating emails from Udall’s staff speak for themselves,” Stephens said, noting Kelley was appointed to her post by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.
The internal emails showed Udall’s staff engaged in tense conversations with the insurance division over the 250,000 figure. The senator believed the number to be inaccurate because 96 percent of those cancellation notices received renewal options.
Mike Saccone, a spokesman for Udall, lauded DORA’s review.
“In fact, Barbara Kelley concluded that the productive interaction with Sen. Udall’s office helped the Division of Insurance arrive at a number that has more relevance for health-care consumers because cancellations with renewal options are different from cancellations without renewal options,” he said. “This was Sen. Udall’s objective all along.”
The issue prompted Republican U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner to send a letter to the division to further question the numbers.
In a separate letter to Gardner on Tuesday, the division’s commissioner, Marguerite Salazar, said the total number of Coloradans to receive cancellation notices as of Jan. 13 is about 335,500.
“Ninety-two percent, or 308,840 people, were offered the opportunity of early renewal,” she wrote.
Gardner said Tuesday this “raises new questions as even more than was originally reported have lost insurance.
“It’s stunning that Obamacare has led to this many canceled plans, and now it’s coming to the forefront,” he said.
Saccone said Udall’s office will review those numbers.
“This is about making sure the right information is being given to Colorado consumers,” he said.
