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Repeal is an unhealthy decision

“There is nothing in the record of the past two years when both Houses of Congress have been controlled by the Republican Party which can lead any person to believe that those promises will be fulfilled in the future. They follow the Hitler line–no matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as truth.” — John F. Kennedy

First off I want to tell you as I have before, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Obamacare is one in the same, it always has been except the Republicans have been trying for years to have you believe that they are different.  It is not insurance, it is a reform that was put in place to protect the American people from the greed of insurance companies.  Period.

I am fully aware that the ACA has kinks and it’s very obvious that the majority of Americans are happy to be able to afford health care coverage. It has helped keep people healthier and has alleviated the burden off of many people’s minds of how will they cope if a health disaster befalls them. So, why bother going through the motions of taking it away from millions of Americans and replacing it with “a well-conceived conservative alternative to Obamacare?”

The Republicans have had six and a half years to come up with a plan, yet so far they have NOTHING to replace it with.  Why? The journey of repealing this reform has yielded attempts in the number of over sixty times, spending over $69 million taxpayer dollars and failed. Did they tell you that it has been estimated that this new fiasco will cost the taxpayers over $9 trillion!?!  Not to mention that they are trying really hard to hide the fact it will cost so much.

While the repeal passed the Senate 51 to 48 during a middle of the night venture, which I witnessed on C-Span at 1:32am and once it was done there were smiles all around on the floor of the Senate by Republicans.  Shameful.  Over three million people will lose their jobs and upwards of 30 million will lose health care coverage.

Here are some other things that you should know.  It will:

¯ End coverage for pre-existing conditions, veteran’s benefits, and all aid to rural hospitals. Brooks Hospital, Lakeshore and Westfield will be affected.

¯ Remove discrimination protection for women in healthcare. Goodbye Planned Parenthood and clinics.

¯ Cancel the provision allowing children to stay on your insurance till the age of 26.

¯ Cut off funding for the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

¯ Your contraceptive coverage and maternity care provision are gone.

¯ No more free preventative medical procedures — mammograms and colonoscopy screening.

¯ Lifetime caps are back for everyone.

But none of this applies to the health care those sitting on Capitol Hill and their families.  They still have that sweet insurance coverage everyone should get. Despite the assertions that this is a “repeal and replace” I reiterate there is no replacement on file.

According to Steve Banen of MSNBC, the reason why this was pushed through so quickly was that Congress finally found a national poll done by McLaughlin and Associates, a major Republican pollster that gave them an actual 53 percent approval of constituents polled.

Take a look at the amazing way in which the poll worded the question:

“Would you support or oppose repealing and replacing Obamacare with a conservative alternative that would save $1 trillion, reduce premiums, enhance access to doctors, and increase the number of people with private insurance by 6 million, but would cover 6 million fewer people overall because fewer people would be on Medicaid?”

The pollster presented respondents with a bizarre scenario, describing an alternative to the ACA that doesn’t exist.

Another poll conducted by the Kaiser Health Tracking poll asks the same kind of question by using neutral questions such as:  :Which would you rather see your representative in Congress do when it comes to the health care law?  Work to improve the law?  Work to repeal the law and replace it with something else?”

When asked by neutral questions instead of those slanted or leading questions, 60 percent of the public oppose the repeal.

What can I do, you ask? Well it’s simple. Rep. Tom Reed has already said he voted to repeal and it has been his motto since day one, but there are five Republican Senators who have broken away from the GOP to demand a slowdown of the repeal.  It’s time to make some phone calls to encourage them to save the ACA and fix it rather than repeal it.

Sen. Bob Corker — (202) 224-3344

Sen. Lisa Murkowski — (202) 224-6665

Sen. Rob Portman — (202) 224-3353

Sen. Susan Collins — (202) 224-2523

Sen. Bill Cassidy — (202) 224-5824

Please make a call; it only takes a few minutes.  I’m sure there is someone you know and care for that this will affect, whether it be their insurance coverage or their job.

I will see you on the flip side.  I’m heading to Washington, D.C. for the Women’s March; maybe I will see you there.

Cath Kestler is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com

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