To the Editor:
In response to the letter from Gina Ryan of Great Falls (“Rejecting a Fairy Tale, Connection, July 25-31, 2012), I would like her to answer a few questions:
*Can she afford health care insurance?
*Does she have health care insurance?
*Does she have young adult children who have health care and can afford it?
If the answers to any of the above questions are yes, then how dare she. How dare she, from her comfortable position in Great Falls, deny health care to tens of millions of Americans.
Ms. Ryan provided some costs from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Here is what is fresh off of the CBO calculator: If the GOP repeals the health care law, it will "cause a net increase in federal budget deficits of $109 billion over the 2013–2022 period." (Source: http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43471)
Is it a tax? Chief Justice John Roberts says it is, but that was his backhanded way of supporting it without supporting it. Roberts knew that if he voted against the law, he would have been pigeonholed as a partisan hack. So, he found a loophole that made him appear nonpartisan, but allowed him to set the law up for partisan attack. He's a smart guy.
I have health care insurance. I had what was called a “preventative” plan, which I thought meant it covered preventative care. Last year I went for a routine physical. After the doctor ordered some additional tests, my routine physical ended up costing me $500 out of pocket. Luckily, I could pay for that. I have since switched insurance plans, but I am lucky that I have that option and can afford it. There are millions of Americans who would not get a physical if it was going to cost them $500 on top of their health care insurance. There are millions who cannot afford insurance to begin with. Obamacare helps them to get insurance (it is not socialized medicine – it is insurance).
Until one actually understands how expensive health care insurance is and that many Americans cannot afford it, I would ask them to back off the rhetoric that weakens our nation. We are only as strong as our weakest link. I would prefer to lift people up instead of beating them down.
John Dukovich
McLean