Taxpayers Paying Andy Griffith to Tout Obamacare?

(By SARAH KLIFF, Politico) - The Obama administration has spent approximately $3 million on TV ads discussing the benefits of health care reform this month — three times what was spent by pro-reform candidates and groups but almost nothing compared with the $21 million spent on anti-reform ads.

The Department of Health and Human Services insists that the ads are not political and that the spending is in line with what the agency has done in the past to advise seniors about the open enrollment period for Medicare Advantage and prescription drug coverage plans, which begins Nov. 15.

But the ads do discuss benefits specific to the Democrats' health care reform law, such as the closing of the prescription drug "doughnut hole," the 50 percent discount on drugs purchased in the coverage gap and the new coverage for an annual wellness visit, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services spokesman Tony Salters said.

"That new health care law sure sounds good for all of us on Medicare," actor Andy Griffith says in a CMS ad that went up on Thursday. "Starting next year, we'll get free check-ups, cancer screenings and low prescription costs."

In another ad that ran earlier this month, Griffith — famous as "Matlock" and the sheriff of Mayberry — discussed the "good things coming" with the Affordable Care Act.

Neither ad explicitly mention Medicare's open enrollment period, although both noted, in writing at the end, "More Information About Your Medicare Options Coming Soon."

HHS officials could not confirm but did not dispute the $3 million figure, which was provided to POLITICO by Evan Tracey at Kantar Media, a firm that tracks political advertising on television.