I am on a Republican email list and am getting some atrocious requests. The latest one is asking me to sign a list of those who have voted to repeal Obamacare because Trump “is eager to rip ObamaCare to shreds, but some in the Senate are refusing to even put a simple repeal bill on his desk.” The RNC Chairwoman is compiling a “massive list” of voters who want Obamacare repealed.
This is absurd. The President has repeatedly and clearly told the American public that he wants to replace Obamacare with a better plan that will provide good health care at a lower cost. The CBO has estimated that if the Republicans vote to repeal Obamacare 17 million people will lose health care in 2018 and 32 million will lose health care over 10 years.
Certainly you are aware that current polls by the Kaiser Foundation show that the Affordable Care Act is now supported by a majority of Americans. I urge you to oppose any attempts to replace the ACA with the current Senate proposal and to forcefully oppose any attempt to repeal the ACA outright. I understand that you live in a political world. I am a retired psychotherapist and the patriarch of a large and wonderful family. While I had my practice, I devoted time providing mental health services to those who could not afford the cost of treatment. That experience helped me understand how difficult it is for too many in this the richest nation in the world to access reasonable health care.
I wonder if you can imagine what it would be like for a middle class family to be faced with having to find health care and other services for a family member with early onset Alzheimer’s disease? Monthly cost for an appropriate treatment facility can be $4000 to $6000. Can you imagine what it must be like for a spouse to lose her husband to the disease as his memory fails? That loss is then compounded by the challenge she faces in protecting her own financial future as the years of residential care continue.
I have in the past respected the Republican Party and believe that our government works best when all sides on important issues engage in a robust public debate. But, now that the Republicans have to power to govern you are demonstrating daily that the priority is to relieve the tax burden on corporations and the wealthy without any public debate.
Do you have any sensitivity or awareness of what life is like for those who are not millionaires in our country? It is time to stop this political process that is threatening to so many and focus on improving the ACA.