Oh hey. Look at that. Turns out the horror story of “Bette in Spokane” that Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers talked about in her SOTU response is total bullshit.

In a familiar situation, the horror story isn’t as horrible as we’d been led to believe. In this case, “Bette in Spokane” didn’t have a health care plan so much as she had insurance that covered catastrophic coverage - and nothing else - with a $10,000 deductible.

Because the law transitions consumers from these bare-bones plans to actual coverage - plans that offer meaningful health care security - she had to choose real insurance. For reasons that are unclear, “Bette in Spokane” refused to check the exchange marketplace to see if she could find a good deal and instead chose an expensive plan from her existing insurer.