Letters: Affordable Care Act; 2020 election

Oct. 1--We must defend the Affordable Care Act

On Nov. 10, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) will consider whether the Affordable Care Act (ACA) can stand after being partially dismantled in an earlier ruling. You may believe this doesn't affect you if you have employer-based health insurance, or you're on Medicare or Medicaid. However, you would be wrong. The impact of a decision against the ACA will be widespread and devastating for all of us.

Here is why. The ACA established baseline standards for all kinds of health insurance, both private and public.

Insurers:

-- must not only cover persons with "pre-existing" conditions but cannot charge more for this coverage.

-- cannot charge more just because you're a woman. They must cover pregnancies, C-sections, and birth control.

-- must cover basic preventive care without co-pays.

-- cannot impose a limit on the total amount of benefits you can receive during your lifetime.

-- must allow children under 26 to be covered on their parents' insurance.

The ACA:

-- reduces Medicare costs.

-- ensures portability -- take your coverage with you when you leave your job.

-- ends Arbitrary Withdrawals of Insurance Coverage.

-- limits the percentage of your premium dollars spent on Administrative Costs vs Health Care.

-- provides vital rural health care and jobs, contributing to local economies.

A Republican group is bringing this case to the SCOTUS. The U.S. Justice Department, which is supposed to defend our laws, has instead joined the plaintiffs against the ACA. It is unclear why they would want to obliterate this law that benefits all of us, not just the millions of people under the ACA.

Shockingly, in the 10 years they have been trying to repeal this law, Republicans have failed to craft any kind of alternate plan.

Please write and call your senator immediately and demand that the Justice Department withdraw their opposition to the ACA and, instead, defend it.

Ingrid Moore

Longmont

Voters must not sit this one out

The initial presidential debate of 2020 showed us the chaos that seems to follow the current White House occupant. It's reminiscent of the Peanuts character Pigpen, always wrapped in a cloud of dirt. So long as the discussion can be kept away from real policy and is instead focused on personality we all lose.

It would be comforting to know we will on Jan. 20 inaugurate a chief executive who cares, who never ceases to serve the country and not demand that the opposite pertain. I'm an independent voter, and I will never vote for a flamethrower.

Voters must act; if some are turned off from watching the donnybrook Sept. 29, they must not sit this one out. How nice it would have been if someone, even the moderator, on that Cleveland stage had chosen to act as peacemaker. Our problems, including some present since 1787, will not be fixed by sitting aside. As during the 1960s, the victims (of economic injustice, racial prejudice, etc.) must in the end turn out to be the healers. What courage that will demand is beyond comprehension. We can all only hope that well has not yet run dry.

Gregory Iwan

Longmont

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