The Affordable Care Act is a good thing. While it is not everything it could or should be — Medicare for all — it did enact needed reforms. And as these come online, real people are getting coverage and services previously unavailable. Two of my adult children did not have coverage before; each one got insurance through Washington state’s insurance exchange, gaining covered care and, as a side benefit, helping assuage this parent’s worried mind. These two individuals and millions more are now signed up through exchanges or expanded Medicaid.
Due credit goes to President Barack Obama. He proposed the ACA, worked to secure its passage, and now it is working and real people are benefiting. No credit goes to our Third District Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, who has been an insistent and persistent “no” on all things Affordable Care Act — defeat it, repeal it, defund it, delay it, confuse it, highlight its failings, ignore its successes. Oh sure, the ACA’s start was rocky, but we finally score things by how they finish. The Affordable Care Act is working, it is here to stay, and that is a good thing.
Ronald Morrison
Vancouver
