GOP health care plan will shut out millions of Americans

People will lose if GOP plan wins

Re “Trumpcare prescribes euthanasia to cure a cold” (Editorials, March 8): Whichever repeal-and-replace legislation congressional Republicans espouse or may pass, we the people will lose.

The free-market health care system that some Republicans want is just what we had before: the non-system that prompted the Affordable Care Act. Before the passage of the ACA, millions of Americans were denied or could not afford to buy health insurance. For five years, after having lost my employer-provided health insurance, I was one of those millions. Thank goodness, I finally turned 65 and could apply for Medicare.

The proposed American Health Care Act will just as surely shut those millions out of the health care equation. How will a tax credit granted in April of each year help people living from paycheck to paycheck pay monthly insurance premiums? None of the repeal-and-replace advocates seem to be thinking of those people.

Obamacare is hardly a disaster

The Affordable Care Act is not a disaster. The American Health Care Act, if passed as is, would be. This act proposed by congressional Republicans will make it harder for millions of people to afford health coverage. Up to 15 million could lose their coverage.

Many people who retain coverage would have weaker protections, higher costs, and less access to preventive health care. It would roll back the Medicaid expansion and cap federal Medicaid funding, virtually ensuring that the patients who need it most would have reduced access to lifesaving coverage and benefits.

The bill would put preventive care at risk by eliminating the Public Health and Prevention Fund and federal funding for services provided by Planned Parenthood health centers. And this bill would hurt seniors and people who are sick the most, which is unacceptable.

Doctors are caring for millions of patients with chronic diseases who cannot afford to have their care disrupted. We want our patients and communities to be able to get the health care they need. Our children must have access to health care that is equitable, affordable and high quality. The House plan falls far short of this goal and puts the coverage of millions of patients at risk. I urge people to tell Congress to oppose this bill.

Congress is flying blind

How can Congress act on health care legislation when it doesn’t know the cost or details of who would be covered? Surely each of us looks at the price tag before choosing our own health insurance. Why shouldn’t Congress weigh our costs and benefits?

President Trump is hard to stomach

Re “Trump is president; best get used to it” (Letters, March 7): I can’t speak for everyone, but I am used to Donald Trump being president. Now, I am working to become an insurance company CEO making more than $500,000 per year who will get a tax break under Trump’s “wonderful” health care plan or an individual making at least $200,000 per year, because I want my tax break.

I definitely don’t want to be one of the millions of people who will be deprived of health care because of Trump’s plan. That would be sad.

Stop whining; start organizing

President Donald Trump’s supporters commonly tell us to quit whining and get used to it. I’m not whining. I’m fighting Trump’s negative actions, of which there are many. Fighting includes contributing to organizations that oppose these actions, contacting legislators and participating in peaceful protests. That is part of democracy, not to just take it whatever it is the truly horrendous man in the White House tries to do.

Presidency is a total mess

OK, Sac Bee, I realize you have a reputation for Democratic leanings. But now you’ve gone too far the other way giving so much print space in the letters to the editor section to the other side: “Trump is president; best get used to it,” “Democrats are being sore losers,” and “Russia ‘scandal’ is no such thing.”

Please, get back to what you do best, printing the messages from people with the insight to see what a mess this presidency is. Trump with his crazy tweets, paranoid rantings and his scripted moments of being “presidential” is scaring the rest of us. Let us share space in your paper again.

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 2:34 PM with the headline "GOP health care plan will shut out millions of Americans."