Judicial Watch
Judicial Watch,the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption,announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to obtain records related to the creation and funding of advertisements pushing the Affordable Care Act,commonly known as Obamacare. Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on March 23,2011,which marked the one year anniversary of President Obama signing the Affordable Care Act into law.
On December 15,2010,Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with HHS seeking the following information:“All records concerning the creation and/or funding of advertisements on the Affordable Care Act.” On December 17,2010,Judicial Watch received confirmation from HHS that its request was received. Judicial Watch received additional confirmation from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,a component of HHS,on January 14,2011. By law,a response to Judicial Watch’s FOIA request was due no later than February 14,2011. However,to date,no documents have been produced. Moreover,HHS has failed to indicate when a response is forthcoming.
In November 2010,Judicial Watch separately obtained documents from the Obama Department of Health and Human Services regarding a series of three Medicare television advertisements featuring actor Andy Griffith. The Obama Administration spent $3,184,000 in taxpayer funds to produce and air the advertisements on national television in September and October 2010 to educate “Medicare beneficiaries,caregivers,and family members about forthcoming changes to Medicare as a result of the Affordable Care Act.”
However,according to FactCheck.org,a project of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center,the advertisements intentionally misinform the American people….