Issue Position: Healthcare

Issue Position

The Affordable Care Act should be supported:

Makes services available to more than 30 million Americans (customers) who can't get insurance

Reduces overall health care costs. When people are forced to use an emergency room as their primary care physician costs increase for everyone

Prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions (prior to this law, children could be denied coverage even for conditions they were born with). This benefit will also apply to adults in 2014.

Insurance companies are prevented from dropping someone when they get sick

Eliminates lifetime caps on medical expenses.

Allows young adults to age 26, to stay on their parent's insurance plan.

Improves medicare and gives coverage for preventative mammograms, pap smears, colonoscopies and annual physicals with no deductibles or co-pays. This is already in effect.

Changes to "Medicare Part D" reduce prescription drug costs, particularly for seniors who fall into the "donut hole" category.

Repealing the Affordable Care Act would add $109 billion to the deficit according to a July 24, 2012 statement by the non-partisan CBO (Congressional Budget Office).

In exchange for insurance companies giving up some of their power and profit, they will receive 30 million new customers, ensuring that capitalism remains a driving force behind cost reduction.

The Affordable Care Act is a step in the right direction, but there is still much more work to do. If elected, I will push for a public option that boosts competition and lowers costs as a step toward the eventual goal of a single-payer national healthcare system ("Medicare For All").

Finally, if the Ryan budget was to be passed, voucherizing medicare, the Affordable Care Act would act as insurance for seniors. Let's face it, it isn't easy for someone who is 75 or 80 years old to get insurance coverage. Thus if Ryan should get his way, and remember that Congress has the votes today to pass the bill, it would save the lives of people being cut out of Medicare.

Let's hope that the Ryan plan is never passed.

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