Are There Any Real Obamacare Horror Stories?

byJoan McCarterFollow


After the latest debunking of an Obamacare horror story, the LA Times' Michael Hiltzikadds them up, and wonders why the Right insists on manufacturing these extreme stories.

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 realinsurance 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 herinsurer 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.

And there are many more, including the extremely dubious personal narratives ofHouse Speaker John Boehner and Sen. Tom Coburn.

The thing is, Hiltzik notes, that there are plenty of people health care reporters have talked to who do have to pay more, possibly for less coverage, who have a valid beef with Obamacare, but aren't making it. That could be because they realize with the added costs (and when haven't insurancepremiums increased for people?) come a lot of protections. That includes the certainty that they won't be bankrupted if a medical disaster strikes.

Those are the stories with nuance, that acknowledge there's much good in the law. The right has to keep pushing the far-out, emotion-laden horror stories—true or not—because they've staked out a position on the law that can't allow for any nuance. They have to try to keep up the momentum for full repeal, and the only way they can do that is by keeping people scared to death of the law. If they have to lie to do that, well, that's hardly a problem for the likes of the Koch brothers and Boehner. Because, as Hiltzik says, that "is how an American public gets convinced that a program manifestly in their best interests is something bad."