Congressman Peters: ObamaCare Killed My Healthcare!

Gary Peters: Obamacare Killed Ms Boonstra's Healthcare!

Congressman Gary Peters (D-Michigan) is running for US Senate.

Maybe that's why he threatened television stations which broadcasted the following commercial.

Julie Boonstra, diagnosed with Leukemia, shared that she had health
insurance which she liked, which covered her expenses. She then shared how she
lost her health insurance because of Obamacare, and she blamed Congressman
Peters for voting for that law.

Her words from the commercial, produced by Americans for Prosperity:

 Congressman Peters, your decision to vote for Obamacare jeopardized my
health. It is time to listen to me. It is time to listen to the other American
citizens out there who are hurting. This is serious. It's not a game. 

 Congressman Peters, Obamacare is not the answer.

 According to Free
Beacon Press, Ms. Boonstra went to Congressman Peters' home to speak with
her representative. He refused to meet with her.

 The Washington Post gave the commercial two Pinocchios, arguing that she did
find her doctor through another health plan, but the out of pocket expenses
were what troubled her:

 Even the Washington Post updated their Fact Check report:

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.”

Alarmed by the impact of this commercial, Peters dispatched lawyers
with a cease
and desist order, citing the Washington Post's Two Pinocchios.
Specifically, they asked (or rather, demanded):

Your station should immediately require AFP to provide the factual
documentation of its claims if you are going to continue airing this
advertisement.

Then came the mafia-style shake-down:

Failure to prevent the airing of  "false and misleadnng
advertising "may be probative of an underlying abdication of licensee
responsibility" that can be cause of the loss of a station's
license."

What?! This is not Cuba. This is not the Sovite Uion, this is the United
States of AMeican, where Freedom of Speech and the Press is protected in the
United States Constitution.

Ms. Boonstra defended the
commercial on Fox News:

I do have something to worry about Megan. 6000 dollars is a lot of
money, that I don't have. I just don't have it in the bank. To me, it's
unaffordable.

I do not care for not knowing what my expenses will be month to month.

She also shared:

"Under my old policy, I knew what I could afford every single month
because I wasn't hit with extra charges. Now I don't know what I have to pay
month to month," she said. "Leukemia tests are extremely
expensive." 

I did believe the President that I could keep [my plan].

Hearing him lie to me, to the American people ,is crushing to me.

I am not better off. I found a plan based on my specialist. I credit my
being here to my specialist and  my it was important to me that I keep my
doctor. As far as saving any money,

She added: "I am not lying. … I was lied to."

What was that lie?

President Obama: If you like your health insurance you can keep it.

Left-Leaning
Politifact slammed President Obama for this lie (the biggest lie of 2013),
as did
the Washington Post (Four Pinocchios!).

Ms. Boonstra's a liar. The CBO is a liar. But I tell the truth, even when I (and the President) LIE!

Democrats are so desperate to run from the Obamacare debacle which they have
created, they are resorting to calling suffering victims like Ms. Boonstra
liars. US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called all the
horror stories about Obamacare untrue.  He even slammed the commercial
with Ms. Boonstra. Now the US Senate Majority Leader is attacking Ms. Boonstra?
How low can you go?
 
And it's all the Koch Brothers' fault. The final liberal-left-leaning
argument.

 "These brothers are trying to buy America. I don't believe that
Americas for sale."

Give me a break! Would the Majority Leader like to call Ms. Boonstra a liar
to her face? Shame on them!

 Boonstra visited with Fox
News again to share her reaction to the allegations of "Liar, Liar,
Boonstra's on fire!"

 My old policy was $1100 a month. My new policy is @568. It's the out of
pocket expenses. Under the old policy I knew what I could afford. Now, I don't
know what I have to pay month to month.

Regarding Peters' allegation that Boonstra and AFP were lying., Boonstra
replied:

 I am not lying, Steve. I lost my health care plan due to the
implementation off Obamacare. And I do not have 5-6000 in the bank.

I was lied to be the President of the United States. I had a health care
plan that I lied, and I lost it.

And Ms. Boonstra's message to Peters' lawyers?

 I am very upset with them for trying to stop my ad. They're not scaring
me. Cancer is scaring ,e. Losing my life,. . .that scares me. 

 They're not going to intimidate me. I have my first amendment right.

I have met residents in my community who have shared about rising health
care premiums, losing their doctors, and losing their health insurance
coverage. One gentleman visit Covered California, and when he placed the lowest
considerations for seeking health care, the exchange produced higher premiums.
I have spoken with doctors who are alarmed about Obamacare, who have reported
that their colleagues are retiring and living the medical profession.

Another website, MSNBC, brought some clarity worth recognizing:

Boonstra did offer some clarification in an interview with The Dexter Leader, saying she was upset to find a prescription that was once covered is no longer in her new plan. But she added that she wasn’t sure yet how her overall costs had changed. 

“I truly would love to show the public my numbers, but like I said I just don’t have that because I haven’t had those visits,” Boonstra said. “People don’t have that certainty – they don’t have the stability of knowing every month what they’re going to be paying now and it’s the ability to actually have that sum of money to pay.”

So, in effect, the issue that Ms Boonstra cannot afford her healthcare remains presently unsubstantiated. The ad does claim that right now she cannot afford her health insurance.

AFP should wait before broadcasting this ad. Will Ms. Boonstra survive, though?

And even MSNBC acknowledged:

No doubt, it’s an extremely stressful experience: In addition to navigating a new plan while facing a life threatening illness, Boonstra said she briefly went without coverage due to technical problems with the health care website.

Despite these discrepancies, Ms, Boonstra lost her health insurance, and it is indeed true that Congressman Gary Peters voted for legislation which killed Boonstra's health care. And the costs are not clear to her.

This is not what America was promised. President Obama gave us the lie of
the year when he said that under Obamacare, if we liked our health care plan,
we could keep it. Congressman Gary Peters owes not only Ms. Boonstra, but the
American People as a whole an explanation not only for why he voted for
Obamacare, and why he tried to shake down and intimidate this woman from
sharing her pain and struggles because of Obamacare.