In her party’s official response to the State of the Union a few weeks ago, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the House Republican Conference chair, shared an anecdote about “Bette in Spokane,” the latest in a series of “Obamacare victims.” As is usually the case, within a day or two, the story was debunked. Once…
now some fresh pickings from the political grapevine. a cancer patient who appears in antiochary ads is now receiving death threats. in the ads julie boonstra explains how she found a treatment plan that gave her hope. i was doing fairly well fighting the cancer and leukemia, and then i received the letter my insurance was cancelled because of obamacare. now the out-of-pocket costs are so high it s unaffordable. if i do not receive my medication, i will die. boonstra s ad was attacked as untrue by obamacare supporters. on the floor of the senate harry reid called it absolutely false. as the single mother continued to battle leukemia and its side effects, she received this letter in the mail. it reads in part you should be ashamed of yourself. i hope cancer kills you soon, signed a concerned and pissed
off citizen. as for the woman s claims which reid and others deemed lies, a conservative politics blog for the detroit news reports fact checker looked at only premiums and spending caps when discounting her story, but many of the drugs and services boonstra needs or will need in the future are not covered, significantly raising her out-of-pocket expenses. another dubious distinction for our nation s capital d.c. drinks more wine than the rest of the country and it takes that top spot by a landslide. washingtonians consume an average of 25.7 liters of wine each year. last year that equals more than 34 bottles of wine per person. the runner up, new hampshire, downing just 20 liters each. winesearcher.com suggests d.c. s ranking, quote, might explain why congress moves so slowly.
harder. they attacked her for speaking out. those who continue to these attacks and pretend to know more about julie s life and circumstances than she does should be ashamed. well, it sounds to me like tv personalities, whoever they are talking about, are getting a lecture from americans for prosperity. you bastards, don t talk to me about cancer and women. don t do that, that s not good. my wife has walked the walk and we know what it s all about. we should point out that julie preexisting condition she will never get dropped. lifetime limits, they will spend whatever they have to spend to make sure that she will keep her health. what about the cost? the savings is quite clear. so it seems to me that americans for prosperity has hoodwinked this cancer patient and put her in an ad that is an absolute lie. no matter what they say, the ad is blatantly dishonest. they can t fight facts.
they use people and they lie. for more, let me bring in wendall potter, senior analyst for the center for public integrity. good to have you with us. thanks for having me. do you think obamacare has made julie boonstra s life harder? i do not. i think maybe americans for prosperity has made her life harder. keep in mind that statement does not address the facts in this case at all and certainly didn t address what the washington post and other media have found out about this case. and i think that is very telling. i wouldn t be here today myself had it not been i can t speak to her illness. she certainly is, i suspect, a legitimate leukemia patient. no doubt. but i am here because of another leukemia patient ad and the role i played several years ago when a corporate executive got between a 17-year-old young woman fighting for her life but