We’ve written about cancer survivor/Obamacare victim Julie Boonstra several times. Today Henry Payne adds to the story and draws the appropriate lessons in “The war on Julie Boonstra.” Payne notes how Boonstra, “a schoolteacher, has come under assault from Democrats and their media allies decrying her as a liar and an ignoramus for failing to embrace her new, Obamacare-approved plan.”
Lesson one:
As with outspoken female Obamacare cancer victims in other states, the intent is to intimidate critics from coming forward. Senator Harry Reid’s outrageous Senate-floor claim that all Obamacare horror stories “are untrue” is the mantra of the Democrats’ scorched-earth campaign to elect Peters and preserve a Democratic Senate.
In the media assault on Boonstra, Glenn Kessler has led the assault from his perch at the Washington Post, and the Michigan media have dutifully followed.
The assault on Boonstra makes up in fervor what it lacks in attention to detail. Lesson two:
These organizations have ignored the details of Boonstra’s plan — instead using Blue Cross (an advocate for Obamacare) numbers to attack her. Through AFP spokesman Scott Hagerstrom, Boonstra communicated her concerns with her new plan.
Uncertainty dogs her — especially having been lied to once by the president. Where her canceled plan’s premiums once covered all her costs, she now must plan for out-of-pocket expenses. Those expenses are capped but will double to $10,200 if she goes out of her network — a not uncommon need for cancer patients, whose treatment often changes — for a doctor or tests. Of her five cancer drugs, she has already discovered that one (Loratadine) is not covered. Detroit News columnist Dan Calabrese also unearthed the fact that glaucoma and “long-term care and nursing care are not covered.”
“She has been bedridden, had to sell her house, give up her teaching career,” says Hagerstrom of the anguish that Boonstra’s rare form of leukemia has caused her. “She liked her insurance and now has to relive the uncertainty of five years ago.”
The Democrats understand the importance of silencing Boonstra. They even have a playbook that draws up the plays. Intimidation is the order of the day. Lesson three:
Rather than meeting with his constituent to hear her concerns, [Michigan Democratic senatorial candidate Gary] Peters tried to intimidate local news stations into pulling the ad, effectively silencing Boonstra. “Failure to prevent the airing of ‘false and misleading advertising’ can be cause for the loss of a station’s license,” wrote Peters through his legal counsel. Subtle as a club.
Peters’s threats received little Michigan media attention. Neither did Boonstra’s failed attempt to contact Peters. Michigan media ha[ve] internalized Reid’s mantra.
So far Julie Boonstra is standing tall. She sets an example for us all. Her example is lesson four:
Boonstra has not backed down. The leukemia victim wrote a letter this week to the Detroit News explaining the complexities of her situation.
“[My critics] choose to ignore the problems inherent with high out-of-pocket limits and prescriptions that aren’t covered for a person like me,” wrote Boonstra. “My new plan could mean wildly fluctuating and front-loaded costs in the first few months of the year. I chose my old plan — the one that Obamacare canceled — specifically so I could budget for the same monthly costs with certainty.”
As an outspoken victim of Obamacare, Julie Boonstra is not alone. Lesson five comes from recognition of the pattern into which the case of Julie Boontra fits:
The Boonstra attacks are not an isolated event. Cancer victim Edie Sundby was attacked by California Democrats and the Los Angeles Times when she wrote an op-ed critical of Obamacare in the Wall Street Journal. Democrats and their Spokane Review parrots thrashed Bette Grenier when she too dared question the ACA. And cancer victim Catherine Blackwood. And so on.
How many patients will be intimidated by such tactics? How many will persevere like Boonstra? It’s only March. Democrats are just getting warmed up.
Whole thing with Payne’s links here.
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