This is why they're so insistent upon trying to defund it before it's fully implemented.
Dear Editor,
Rep. Pitts has made broad assertions that the Affordable Care Act ( ACA, aka ObamaCare) will be a disaster. However, as ObamaCare is being implemented, it is clear these predictions are grossly exaggerated. Health care premiums are going down, jobs are being created, and our health care system is getting stronger, more efficient, and covering more Americans.
I have already received two rebate checks from my private health insurance company because the ACA requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of premiums on health care. In October I will be able to get a lower cost insurance policy from the ACA exchanges because of preexisting conditions that have kept me locked into my old insurance company for many years.
My son’s experience in New York is even more impressive. He was paying $4800 a year in health care premiums for himself, his wife, and child. His new policy costs just $2500. Even more important, the end of caps on prescription drugs (required by the ACA for all new policies) saves him $6,300 per year in out-of-pocket expenses. He saves another $1500 in other out-of-pocket expenses because of ACA regulations. My son and his family now get excellent coverage and excellent care at a much reduced cost because of ObamaCare.
Rep. Pitts and every other house Republican has voted 40 times to take these new benefits away from us. Worse, the Republicans have not put up even one bill to replace ObamaCare.
There is a reason for this lack of any positive alternative. Almost every health care reform the Republicans endorse is already in the ACA. The ACA includes changes in tax policies that end discrimination against those who buy private health care on their own rather than through their employer. The ACA gives people increased choice in health care policies. State by state health insurance marketplaces are already resulting in reduced premiums. Most of the elements of ObamaCare were once proposed by Republicans.
As more elements of the ACA are rolled out, more Americans will have positive experiences with the new health care system and more will embrace ObamaCare as they have embraced Medicare. That may be the disaster Rep. Pitts and the Republicans really fear.
