Welcome to Bizarro Amerika!

For months, health reform’s opponents have been feasting on tales of Obamacare’s innocent victims – Americans who lost their insurance because it doesn’t comply with the ACA’s regulations, and now have to shell out more than they can afford – or go without coverage.

Trouble is, many of those stories just aren’t true (http://prospect.org/article/another-phony-obamacare-victim-story).

Yesterday I posted about a Fort Worth Star Telegram article (http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/11/23/5364189/obamacare-stirs-anxiety-for-thousands.html) that leads with the tale of Whitney Johnson, a 26-year-old new mother who suffers from multiple sclerosis (MS). Her insurer just cancelled her policy, and according to Johnson (http://www.healthinsurance.org/blog/2014/01/02/obamacares-victims/), new insurance would cost her over $1,000 a month.

That claim stopped me in my tracks. Under the ACA, no 26-year-old could be charged $1,000 monthly – even if she has MS.

Obamacare prohibits insurers from charging more because a customer suffers from a pre-existing condition (http://www.healthinsurance.org/glossary/pre-existing-condition/). This rule applies to all new policies, whether they are sold inside or outside the exchanges.

At that point, I knew that something was wrong.

When I checked the exchange – plugging in Johnson’s county and her age – I soon found a Blue Choice Gold PPO plan priced at $332 monthly (just $7 more than she had been paying for the plan that was cancelled). Co-pays to see a primary care doctor would run just $10 ($50 to visit a specialist) and she would not have to pay down the $1,500 deductible before the insurance kicked in.

My radar went up. Recently, I have been reading more and more reports (http://www.newshounds.us/now_cavuto_comes_up_with_fake_obamacare_victims_10292013) regarding “ake Obamacare victims (http://fhttp://www.newshounds.us/greta_van_susteren_outs_her_own_fake_obamacare_victim_sort_of_10302013).”

Now I couldn’t help but wonder: Who are these folks in the Star-Telegram story? The paper profiled four people who supposedly had been hurt by Obamacare. When I Googled their names, I soon discovered (http://www.healthinsurance.org/blog/2014/01/02/obamacares-victims/) that three (including Johnson) were Tea Party members.

The paper describes them as among Obamacare’s “losers,” but the truth is that they didn’t want to be winners. Two hadn’t even attempted to check prices (http://www.healthinsurance.org/blog/2014/01/02/obamacares-victims/%20?) in the exchanges.

I used a hyperlink.

Oops, yes you did! can I blame it on my old eyes? I didn't realize there was a hyperlink under the words "just aren't true".

Sorry!! blind as a bat somedays...

Overall, I believe the Star-Telegram has done a good job of educating readers about the good and the bad of Obamacare – but not in this instance.
 
I apologize for that and promise we’ll do better going forward.