EDITORIAL: Health care matters: Voters made clear they value the protections of the Affordable Care Act

Nov. 25--One of the clear takeaways from this month's election is that Americans, regardless of party or ideology, are reluctant to move backward on some of the key reforms of the Affordable Care Act. For months, polls indicated this was a prime driver among those planning to vote Democrat, and many GOP candidates recognized it, attempting to paint themselves as pro-health reform after a decade of trying to overturn the law.

Even longtime opponents of the reform act announced early and often that they'd be for retaining protections regarding pre-existing conditions and for those under age 26 who have insurance through their parents. Many of the candidates ousted from the U.S. House were the same people who, a year ago, were voting repeatedly for any means -- however inhumane -- of deconstructing what they derisively call Obamacare. Virtually every plan put forth in 2017 to "repeal and replace" Obamacare would have left those with pre-existing conditions paying more, if they could get coverage at all.

And it's worth noting that even as they vowed to protect those with cancer, pregnancies or other "pre-existing" conditions, they were sitting idly by while the president signed an executive order in August promoting the use of short-term insurance plans that don't cover pre-existing conditions. Those plans also don't have to offer comprehensive coverage.

So, health care came up frequently during this campaign season. As the summer turned toward autumn, we interviewed several GOP candidates vying to oppose Rep. Ann Kuster in the state's 2nd Congressional District. We were struck that several of them contended that access to affordable care really wasn't a big issue because, in their words, hospitals can't turn anyone down for care, so even the indigent have "access" to care.

What this view misses entirely is that the poor showing up in hospital emergency rooms, seeking expensive care without the means to pay for it, was one of the very dynamics the ACA was intended to fix -- and has. It showed either a shoddy understanding of the situation or a willingness to try to pull the wool over voters' eyes on an issue of great importance to many.

In New Hampshire, hospitals saved more than $142 million in 2015 alone when expanded Medicaid coverage provided access to routine and preventive care to roughly 50,000 Granite Staters. The savings was such that the hospitals and insurers in the state pitched in to cover the state's share of that expanded program and agreed to foot the bill moving forward, though federal authorities said basing the program's future on such a promise was untenable.

Addressing our nation's overly expensive health costs has proven to be, as the president found after taking office, a complex, interlocking issue. The Affordable Care Act, while it was not without flaws, moved things forward.

Our cautious hope at this point is that with politicians across the nation having seen how important its protections are to voters, the quality, access and affordability of health care for all Americans can be taken off the table as a partisan issue.

We don't expect this to be the case. As long as people fear being ill without the means to pay for adequate care, politicians will try to leverage that fear. But we can hope.

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