Silencing The Victims of ObamaCare

[HenryBHough]

ACA?

Oh, you mean Obamacare!

 

[william the wie]

ACA?

Oh, you mean Obamacare!

He also means that he is not paying attention to recent polling data.

 

[mamooth]

Health Care Law - Rasmussen Reports?
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The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 44% of Likely U.S. Voters think the federal government should require every American to buy or obtain health insurance. Forty-six percent (46%) oppose this so-called individual mandate that is part of the new national health care law

That’s comparable to last month when 42% favored the individual insurance requirement, and 43% were opposed. But opposition was down 15 points from 58% in December.
---

You put all your eggs in the "Repeal ObamaCare" basket, and that's become impossible. The worst case for you is happening. Obamacare is working. So what's Plan B?

 

[billyerock1991]

billie is a blithering booby.

Back to the topic: Another ObamaCare Victim...and I suspect her son will soon be audited by the IRS for daring to speak out.

And a note to the Moonbats: here's another little feature of ObamaCare: it doesn't cover many drugs and treatments that the cancelled plans did. So even if it costs the same or is cheaper, it doesn't do the patient any good if his or her medicine is not covered. That expense comes straight out of pocket, and doesn't even apply to the deductible.

When my mother was diagnosed with carcinoid cancer in 2005, when she was 49, it came as a lightning shock. Her mother, at 76, had yet to go gray, and her mother's mother, at 95, was still playing bingo in her nursing home. My mother had always been, despite her diminutive frame, a titanic and irrepressible force of vitality and love. She had given birth to me and my nine younger siblings, and juggled kids, home and my father's medical practice with humor and grace for three decades. She swam three times a week in the early mornings, ate healthily and never smoked.

(snip)

And then in November, along with millions of other Americans, she lost her health insurance. She'd had a Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan for nearly 20 years. It was expensive, but given that it covered her very expensive treatment, it was a terrific plan. It gave her access to any specialist or surgeon, and to the Sandostatin and other medications that were keeping her alive.

And then, because our lawmakers and president thought they could do better, she had nothing. Her old plan, now considered illegal under the new health law, had been canceled.

Because the exchange website in her state (Virginia) was not working, she went directly to insurers' websites and telephoned them, one by one, over dozens of hours. As a medical-office manager, she had decades of experience navigating the enormous problems of even our pre-ObamaCare system. But nothing could have prepared her for the bureaucratic morass she now had to traverse.

The repeated and prolonged phone waits were Sisyphean, the competence and customer service abysmal. When finally she found a plan that looked like it would cover her Sandostatin and other cancer treatments, she called the insurer, Humana, HUM +8.46% to confirm that it would do so. The enrollment agent said that after she met her deductible, all treatments and medications—including those for her cancer—would be covered at 100%. Because, however, the enrollment agents did not—unbelievable though this may seem—have access to the "coverage formularies" for the plans they were selling, they said the only way to find out in detail what was in the plan was to buy the plan. (Does that remind you of anyone?)

With no other options, she bought the plan and was approved on Nov. 22. Because by January the plan was still not showing up on her online Humana account, however, she repeatedly called to confirm that it was active. The agents told her not to worry, she was definitely covered.

Then on Feb. 12, just before going into (yet another) surgery, she was informed by Humana that it would not, in fact, cover her Sandostatin, or other cancer-related medications. The cost of the Sandostatin alone, since Jan. 1, was $14,000, and the company was refusing to pay.

The news was dumbfounding. This is a woman who had an affordable health plan that covered her condition. Our lawmakers weren't happy with that because . . . they wanted plans that were affordable and covered her condition. So they gave her a new one. It doesn't cover her condition and it's completely unaffordable....

Stephen Blackwood: ObamaCare and My Mother's Cancer Medicine - WSJ.com

why would she be audited by the IRS

once again the ACA will cover any drug that is authorized by the FDA ... as will, any provider... another lie from the right wing nut job boedicca

BOOO HOO another right wing nut job case that really doesn't have to do with any truth to it ... she went the first day to the website and wasn't able to get on ??? BIOOO HOOO for her !!!! was her fingers just cut off ??? did she forget how to use a phone ??? instead of calling the people at the web site, which by they way I did myself And I had no problems getting through ... because that's what I did... this bozo went to her provider BCBS ... here's something else that Ive noticed ... BCBS seems to have a lot of these kind of stories ... here something else I also notice ...and some of you out there can tell me if you had this on your website or not ... I didn't see any BCBS plans offered ... could this be BCBS trying to make something out of nothing ??? because they aren't offering a plan for them??? could that why we see these made up stories??? a made up story sure would be notice by these righties ... Plus one thing else an maybe I missed it, they did say what drugs she was on that they refused to give her ... either she just said they wouldn't give it to her or somebody is lying here ... I would also say somebody on the right is lying here .. and that would be boedicca ...

 

[billyerock1991]

As people learn more the personal blowback on Obamacare will get worse.

the gop on this blow back ... what the GOP are saying now, damn we better get with the program because it is working ... its not failing like we were hoping ... something you wing nuts are going to find out in November this year ...

 

[billyerock1991]

You mean the uber rich corporations who whine they can't afford health insurance for their employees so they fire them and the pathetic insurance companies who dump people with health problems because supposedly they can't afford their healthcare any longer? Once again Obama did not go far enough,force needs to be used to insure these bastard companies of all stripes stop kicking people from their insurance and stop firing or cutting people's hours because they now have to give them health insurance instead of cutting some of the MILLIONS their CEO's get.

The willfully obtuse.

Read the OP again,her coverage was MANDATED away.

Same old talking points nothing new or interesting here.

which meant she had a plan that had caps on it .. that would have come to a end real fast moron!!!!

 

[CaféAuLait]

Why would she feel worse off? She is STILL getting the meds and treatment she needs AND millions of people are now insured thanks to obamacare. Again this is not about 1 person. This is about her realizing MILLIONS are better off because her little soul got cheaper/more efficient healthcare.

She is not getting her meds.

"I honestly don't know what those numbers are going to amount to; for instance, I've went in to have a prescription filled, thinking well it's never been a big deal ... I never gave it a thought," she explained. "And now it's no longer covered. So people are asking me for the numbers and I don't know those answers -- that's the heartbreak of all of this. It's the uncertainty of not having those numbers that I have an issue with, because I always knew what I was paying and now I don't, and I haven't gone through the tests or seen my specialist yet."

DEXTER: Julie Boonstra reacts to national criticism regarding attack ad on Gary Peters - Dexter Leader - Heritage Newspapers

 

[billyerock1991]

The ACA keeps gaining popularity, which is trouble for the Republicans, hence the scent of excrement now wafting from conservative trousers. What do they do now? Lying bigger and bigger just isn't doing the trick. They spent years telling America the sky was falling, and the sky hasn't fallen. So why would anyone trust a word they say now?

And naturally, all of them also endorse the "You told the truth, so you're silencing me!" pantswetting act.

its like I said to boedicca which she got all pissy about ... if you go to a court of law, all they care about is the law ... If you say I don't like what this woman is tell everybody... that the plan doesn't work ... that were supposed believe boedicca that she was stopped because they didn't like what she was saying ??? we're, supposed to believe that??? no !!!!! if you go to court and you lie about what is being said and you can prove in a court of law that this was a lie, then you as the person who is lying about it must stop... that's the only way they will get you to stop these Ad's ... becasue its untrue... you dolts !!! its like all the republican articles ... one big lie after another

 

[billyerock1991]

Why would she feel worse off? She is STILL getting the meds and treatment she needs AND millions of people are now insured thanks to obamacare. Again this is not about 1 person. This is about her realizing MILLIONS are better off because her little soul got cheaper/more efficient healthcare.

She is not getting her meds.

"I honestly don't know what those numbers are going to amount to; for instance, I've went in to have a prescription filled, thinking well it's never been a big deal ... I never gave it a thought," she explained. "And now it's no longer covered. So people are asking me for the numbers and I don't know those answers -- that's the heartbreak of all of this. It's the uncertainty of not having those numbers that I have an issue with, because I always knew what I was paying and now I don't, and I haven't gone through the tests or seen my specialist yet."

DEXTER: Julie Boonstra reacts to national criticism regarding attack ad on Gary Peters - Dexter Leader - Heritage Newspapers

the heritage newspaper really ??? BWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHJA

 

[The Rabbi]

The ACA keeps gaining popularity, which is trouble for the Republicans, hence the scent of excrement now wafting from conservative trousers. What do they do now? Lying bigger and bigger just isn't doing the trick. They spent years telling America the sky was falling, and the sky hasn't fallen. So why would anyone trust a word they say now?

And naturally, all of them also endorse the "You told the truth, so you're silencing me!" pantswetting act.

No, it actually is not gaining in popularity.
RealClearPolitics - Election Other - Public Approval of Health Care Law

What do you base your statement on?

 

[CaféAuLait]

Why would she feel worse off? She is STILL getting the meds and treatment she needs AND millions of people are now insured thanks to obamacare. Again this is not about 1 person. This is about her realizing MILLIONS are better off because her little soul got cheaper/more efficient healthcare.

She is not getting her meds.

"I honestly don't know what those numbers are going to amount to; for instance, I've went in to have a prescription filled, thinking well it's never been a big deal ... I never gave it a thought," she explained. "And now it's no longer covered. So people are asking me for the numbers and I don't know those answers -- that's the heartbreak of all of this. It's the uncertainty of not having those numbers that I have an issue with, because I always knew what I was paying and now I don't, and I haven't gone through the tests or seen my specialist yet."

DEXTER: Julie Boonstra reacts to national criticism regarding attack ad on Gary Peters - Dexter Leader - Heritage Newspapers

the heritage newspaper really ??? BWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHJA

Actually it's the Dexter Leader.

 

[billyerock1991]

The ACA keeps gaining popularity, which is trouble for the Republicans, hence the scent of excrement now wafting from conservative trousers. What do they do now? Lying bigger and bigger just isn't doing the trick. They spent years telling America the sky was falling, and the sky hasn't fallen. So why would anyone trust a word they say now?

And naturally, all of them also endorse the "You told the truth, so you're silencing me!" pantswetting act.

No, it actually is not gaining in popularity.
RealClearPolitics - Election Other - Public Approval of Health Care Law

What do you base your statement on?

the republicans in the news this week end ... it was all over all the stations accept fox noise...

 

[billyerock1991]

She is not getting her meds.



DEXTER: Julie Boonstra reacts to national criticism regarding attack ad on Gary Peters - Dexter Leader - Heritage Newspapers

the heritage newspaper really ??? BWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHJA

Actually it's the Dexter Leader.

thats part of the heritage paper ... really are you this misinformed ??? ... if you're going to enter into a debate try not to use extreme right wing web sites ... nobody on the left or independents will take you serious...

 

[Howey]

After relating her story publicly in an ad produced by the advocacy group Americans for Prosperity (AFP), Peters dispatched lawyers to prevent the spot from running on local television stations.

lol. Since when is Americans For Prosperity, run by and financed by the Koch Brothers, an advocacy group for anyone other than deranged teabaggers?

In fact, Ms. Boonstra has healthcare under the ACA, better healthcare than what she had before because she can't be denied treatment for a previous condition.

A hard-hitting anti-Obamacare ad makes a claim that doesn?t add up

First of all, many viewers might think Boonstra lost her doctor, as she mentions her “wonderful doctor” and then says her plan was canceled. But AFP confirms that she was able to find a plan, via Blue Cross Blue Shield, that had her doctor in its network.

Local news reports recount that Boonstra, like many Americans, initially had trouble getting a plan because of the botched launch of healthcare.gov. No doubt that was a difficult experience. She then was invited by her local member of Congress to attend the State of the Union address and participated in a Republican National Committee news conference that highlighted problems with Obamacare’s stumbling launch.

At that news conference, Boonstra said, “I’m paying a higher cost now as far as out of pocket costs and the coverage is just not the same.” But in the new ad she says “the out-of-pocket costs are so high, it’s unaffordable.”

The claim that the costs are now “unaffordable” appeared odd because, under Obamacare, there is an out-of-pocket maximum of $6,350 for covered expenses under an individual plan, after which the insurance plan pays 100 percent of covered benefits. The Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in Michigan that appear to match Boonstra’s plan, as described in local news reports, all have that limit.

Meanwhile, Boonstra told the Detroit News that her monthly premiums were cut in half, from $1,100 a month to $571. That’s a savings of $529 a month. Over the course of a year, the premium savings amounts to $6,348—just two dollars shy of the out-of-pocket maximum.

We were unable to reach Boonstra, but on the fact of it, the premium savings appear to match whatever out-of-pocket costs she now faces...

He concluded: “Now her expenses are unpredictable, and that means unaffordable. It could be $600 one month, and three times that the next month. The reality of what she’s dealing with is much more involved and can’t be swept aside by saying, ‘you have an OOP maximum so quit complaining about your cancer.’”

Update, Feb. 21: In an interview with the Dexter Leader responding to this column, Boonstra said: “People are asking me for the numbers and I don’t know those answers — that’s the heartbreak of all of this. It’s the uncertainty of not having those numbers that I have an issue with, because I always knew what I was paying and now I don’t, and I haven’t gone through the tests or seen my specialist yet.”

The Pinocchio Test

The Fact Checker surely does not want to play down the emotional anguish that any cancer patient may face, but a fuller accounting is necessary if AFP is going to air ads like this. In order to properly compare the old plan and the new plan, there needs to be fuller disclosure of the costs and out-of-pocket maximums before claims that the new plan is “unaffordable” can be accepted at face value. Too many anecdotal stories, on both sides, have fallen apart under close scrutiny.

[Update, Feb. 24: In response to a complaint to television stations from the Peters campaign, AFP supplied more documentation for the ad (embedded below). The documentation, however, sheds no light on how the new health plan has made out-of-pockets costs for Boonstra "unaffordable." Instead, it emphasizes that these costs may be unpredictable. This does not meet the disclosure test we requested.]

Russell passed along a quote from Boonstra: “My plan, the premiums are half, but the out‑of‑pocket costs are so high that for me, it’s unaffordable. My coverage is 80/20. Blood work, I’m paying 20 percent. If I needed a bone marrow transplant, I would only be covered 80 percent. Everything, everything I do now, I have to pay a percentage of.”
It is one thing to say there are higher out-of-pocket costs, as she did at the RNC news conference, but another to assume that those higher costs are not offset in some way by the significantly lower premium. (The $350,000 bone marrow transplant, for instance, would be capped at the out of pocket minimum.) The reality is that eventually Boonstra will hit the maximum and no longer pay anything. So over the course of the year, the difference in the costs could well even out.

We will initially set this rating at Two Pinocchios, and will update if we get more information.

Two Pinocchios

Which begs the question...are there any Obamacare victims?

Probably not...

Boonstra's case is just the latest of a very long line of deflatable horror stories. We've debunked a passel of them here, from Florida resident Diane Barrette, who didn't realize she'd been empowered by the ACA to move from a costly junk insurance plan to a cheaper real insurance plan; to Los Angeles real estate agent Deborah Cavallaro, whose "unaffordable" premiums turned out to be eminently affordable; to San Diego business owner Edie Sundby, whose cancer coverage was safeguarded by Obamacare after her insurer bailed out on her for financial reasons; to "Bette," the supposed victim trotted out by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) in her response to the State of the Union message last month, and who turned out to be an ACA "victim" because she couldn't be bothered actually to investigate her options for affordable care on the Washington state enrollment website.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

This is why Obamacare is canceling some people?s insurance plans
Sounds perfectly normal. She needs to just get new insurance.

The point is she had insurance.
She had insurance she liked.
She had the Doctor's and the hospital and the meds that were working.
According to Obama himself she was not going to be affected by his law....

So we find out all of this was bullshit...

And the response from the left....
Tough shit,go out and get a new plan...

In the source they are using to smear her, she points out that she preferred the predictable payments of her old plan. Under ObamaCare, she can get slammed with thousands of dollars of out of pocket costs to be in lump sums. This likely doesn't match up with her income, and puts her at risk of owing the large sums prior to receiving the income to pay for it.

Hopenchange!

She may have "preferred" to pay more money with her old plan, but that doesn't change the fact that her new plan will save her money.

Nor am I sure where you've come up with the claim that she will be "slammed" with lump sums of thousands of dollars of out of pocket costs under "Obamacare".

 

[CaféAuLait]

the heritage newspaper really ??? BWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHJA

Actually it's the Dexter Leader.

thats part of the heritage paper ... really are you this misinformed ??? ... if you're going to enter into a debate try not to use extreme right wing web sites ... nobody on the left or independents will take you serious...

I linked to an interview with the woman. Her home town paper the Dexter Leader interviewed her and you are all up in arms about who did the interview. Get over it, I'll bet you did not even bother to read the 3 page story, which was very balanced, in fact mentions all the controversy surrounding her statements. Instead, all you can do is attack the Dexter Leader.

 

[The Rabbi]

The point is she had insurance.
She had insurance she liked.
She had the Doctor's and the hospital and the meds that were working.
According to Obama himself she was not going to be affected by his law....

So we find out all of this was bullshit...

And the response from the left....
Tough shit,go out and get a new plan...

In the source they are using to smear her, she points out that she preferred the predictable payments of her old plan. Under ObamaCare, she can get slammed with thousands of dollars of out of pocket costs to be in lump sums. This likely doesn't match up with her income, and puts her at risk of owing the large sums prior to receiving the income to pay for it.

Hopenchange!

She may have "preferred" to pay more money with her old plan, but that doesn't change the fact that her new plan will save her money.

Nor am I sure where you've come up with the claim that she will be "slammed" with lump sums of thousands of dollars of out of pocket costs under "Obamacare".

Yes, the state knows what's best for you! Submit yourself, comrade!

 

[Greenbeard]

And a note to the Moonbats: here's another little feature of ObamaCare: it doesn't cover many drugs and treatments that the cancelled plans did. So even if it costs the same or is cheaper, it doesn't do the patient any good if his or her medicine is not covered. That expense comes straight out of pocket, and doesn't even apply to the deductible.

A 2-minute search shows that all exchange plans in the Virginia Beach market are through Anthem or OptimaHealth, both of which include Sandostatin in their exchange plan formularies.

She bought a plan outside Virginia's exchange (Humana doesn't sell in the Virginia exchange) without even seeing its formulary. Which apparently ended up not including Sandostatin.

If there's a lesson here, it's buy through the damn exchange. And if you're looking for a plan that includes a particular drug, click the "List of Covered Drugs" button on the exchange website for plans before buying them.

 

[boedicca]

And a note to the Moonbats: here's another little feature of ObamaCare: it doesn't cover many drugs and treatments that the cancelled plans did. So even if it costs the same or is cheaper, it doesn't do the patient any good if his or her medicine is not covered. That expense comes straight out of pocket, and doesn't even apply to the deductible.

A 2-minute search shows that all exchange plans in the Virginia Beach market are through Anthem or OptimaHealth, both of which include Sandostatin in their exchange plan formularies.

She bought a plan outside Virginia's exchange (Humana doesn't sell in the Virginia exchange) without even seeing its formulary. Which apparently ended up not including Sandostatin.

If there's a lesson here, it's buy through the damn exchange. And if you're looking for a plan that includes a particular drug, click the "List of Covered Drugs" button on the exchange website for plans before buying them.

You are making some very false assumptions, but that's consistent with your SubPar MO.

 

[william the wie]

I notice no claims were made as to type of drug coverage and no claims as to the network availability of the specialists needed to write the scripts. It is much more profitable and much better public relations to play games with those numbers.