The ad also does not mention that Boonstra’s health care premiums were cut in half when she enrolled in a new Blue Cross plan, to $571 a month from $1,100. The new plan, however, increases out-of-pocket costs, such as doctor’s visits going from $20 to $50, she told The News.
Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips said he stands by the ad’s claim that Boonstra’s new plan is “unaffordable.”
“If you look at the script and she says they’re so high they are unaffordable and we know the out-of-pocket costs are not what they were — by definition they were almost nonexistent in the old policy. We feel very comfortable with that,” Phillips told The News.
Phillips declined to offer documentation on the costs, citing privacy concerns. Boonstra wasn’t available for an interview Wednesday or Thursday with The News. Phillips and AFP spokesman Levi Russell said the out-of-pocket costs are unpredictable now for Boonstra and it’s fair to highlight that uncertainty even though the overall cost of the health care plan may be less.
At least one fact-checking organization is crying foul. The Washington Post’s Fact Checker gave the ad two out of four Pinocchios.
Reasoning: The savings alone from the premium is $6,348 for Boonstra. Plus, Obamacare caps out-of-pocket costs for individual plans at $6,350, so feasibly Boonstra would be paying at most $2 more this year for her health plan.
“It is one thing to say there are higher out-of-pocket costs ... but another to assume that those higher costs are not offset in some way by the significantly lower premium,” fact-checker Glenn Kessler wrote. “The reality is that eventually Boonstra will hit the maximum and no longer pay anything. So over the course of the year, the difference in the costs could well even out.”