Denver Post - Adwatch
Title: "Margo"
Ad sponsor: Salazar for Senate
Producer: Mandy Grunwald
Type: Issue
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ken Salazar released a new ad this week touting his efforts to keep health insurance rates low and promising to continue the fight in Washington if he is elected to the Senate.
The ad features a Centennial resident talking about health insurance companies wanting to double her family's insurance rates.
The skyrocketing cost of health insurance is one of the top issues in the Senate campaign.
Republican candidate Pete Coors has weighed in, saying trial lawyers have inflated health care costs with their lawsuits. In fact, malpractice expenses, including legal costs, represented only about 2 percent of the nation's overall health care spending.
In his ad, Salazar puts at least part of the blame for increased health costs on the drug companies.
Claim: As attorney general, Ken Salazar cracked down on the big drug companies for price fixing ... and won.
Fact: Salazar's campaign cites four successful lawsuits he was involved in as attorney general against drug companies. In three of the four, Colorado was one of several states to sue. In one, Colorado received $936,000 from a $41 million false-claim settlement in 1999 against the maker of a thyroid medication. That year, 33 states, including Colorado, sued, alleging that drug companies were trying to corner the supply of an ingredient in anti-anxiety drugs. Colorado residents received about $406,000 in restitution out of the $100 million settlement. In the two other actions, Salazar sued to make generic drugs available.
- staff writer Arthur Kane
