Obamacare Attack Ad May Actually Expose Obamacare Success Story

Obamacare Attack Ad May Actually Expose Obamacare Success Story

by Ashley Woods at Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/20/obamacare-ad-julie-boonstra_n_4823167.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

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It's the numbers of her story, however, that don't exactly add up. Boonstra told the Detroit News last month that she was previously covered by a Blue Care Network plan with a $1,100 monthly premium and low out-of-pocket costs. Through an insurance agent, she signed up for a new plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield that allows her to keep her oncologist. Her monthly premium has been cut almost in half, to $571.

That sounds like progress. Yet Levi Russell, director of public affairs for Americans for Prosperity, told The Huffington Post that Boonstra still has concerns. He said Boonstra is not sure that her daily oral chemotherapy medicine will be covered by her new plan. "Since her out of pocket costs are so much higher now, her costs have quickly become unpredictable," Russell wrote in an email. "Rather than knowing exactly what she would have to pay every month, she now is facing a roller coaster of expenses that vary with her health. She said she feels like a surprise is around every corner, since she keeps being hit with new out of pocket costs every time she needs treatment, or a test, or even an office visit."

But the Affordable Care Act also caps out-of-pocket costs -- deductibles, co-payments and co-insurance fees that a patient pays -- for essential health benefits. The maximum out-of-pocket costs for an individual plan in 2014 is $6,350.

Russell sent HuffPost this statement from Boonstra about her new plan. "It's totally unaffordable to me," she says, adding, "As I had stated, when I picked up Blue Care Network, it was an expensive plan, but it met my needs. In order for me to have that plan, I basically sold my house, drained my savings account. My 401k plan was gone, but it was a priority. I'm here today because of it. Now, I don't know how I'm going to afford any of this."





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