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Sen. Udall Under Fire For Attempting To Alter Obamacare Cancellation Numbers

January 10, 2014

Senator Mark Udall attempted to alter the number of Coloradans who received notification that their health insurance policies were being cancelled due to Obamacare.

The story was originally reported by Todd Shepherd at Complete Colorado and later by Colorado Peak Politics.

According to reports, Udall’s office tried to change the number of cancelled policies. The number was produced by the Colorado Division of Insurance. Udall’s office subsequently lobbied the agency to amend their definition of what qualified as a cancellation.

An email sent from Jo Donlin, the Director of External Affairs with the Department of Regulatory Agencies’ Division of Insurance follows:

"Sen. Udall says our numbers were wrong. They are not wrong. Cancellation notices affected 249,199 people. They want to trash our numbers. I’m holding strong while we get more details. Many have already done early renewals. Regardless, they received cancellation notices."

Donlin gave an explanation as to how the agency had produced the cancellation notice numbers (which were correct). Reports say that Udall’s Chief of Staff was then sent to "bully" the Division of Insurance. Donlin described the nature of the phone call as "very hostile."

Almost a month after the heated exchange between Udall’s office and Donlin, Public Policy Polling issued a report that since August, Udall’s "deserves re-election" numbers had dropped by 14.

Udall had previously told Coloradans that they if they liked their health insurance plan, they could keep it. Politifact later dubbed Udall’s whopper "Lie of the Year."

Published under: Mark Udall , Obamacare