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Letter to the Editor: The Affordable Health Care Act Is ‘Obamacare’

A recent national poll concluded that 35 percent of its respondents thought that “Obamacare” and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were different programs. The greatest confusion was among people 18-29 and those earning less than $50,000 per year, two groups that could be significantly affected by a repeal of the ACA.

Repeal of the ACA (“Obamacare”) will cause 20 million people to lose insurance. This is unfortunate because early studies show that fewer people are struggling with medical bills or avoiding health care because of the ACA. Medical bills in collection have also declined.

Problems for everyone loom on the horizon. Insurance prices will rise above current levels as fewer people are covered and a greater proportion of them are unhealthy. The popular features of the ACA (elimination of pre-existing conditions and lifetime caps on coverage as reasons for denying insurance) are only possible when everyone is insured, so that healthy people balance the unhealthy in the statistical pool.

The Republican Congress has not proposed a viable alternative to the ACA, yet it has sued the executive branch to stop “spending billions of dollars on health insurance subsidies for low-and-moderate-income Americans.” Without subsidies, millions will lose access to health insurance.

Call Rep. Mike Gallagher now and speak out against these attacks on the ACA. Your life or that of one you love may depend on it.

Jim Black

Sister Bay, Wis.