Archive: Opinions

At a town hall meeting in Lansing, Rep. Tom Reed admitted that he doesn’t have a solution for the American health care crisis - and his zeal for repealing the Affordable Care Act won’t be one. Reed was quoted as saying, “Will repeal take care of the situation with health care? No, and that’s where we repeal it, and then we’ve got to have the conversation in America as to how we’re going to get health care.”

For those of us with pre-existing conditions, a uterus, or low incomes, Reed’s policy of “repeal first, ask questions later,” simply doesn’t cut the muster. The Congressman has admitted that the costs of health care and health insurance - which, prior to 2009, had no legal limits - are a crisis for millions for working Americans. He praises the policies of forcing insurance companies to offer insurance to people with pre-existing conditions, and allowing children to stay on their parents’ health insurance until age 26 - both of which became law under the Affordable Care Act.

So to recap: Tom Reed doesn’t have a solution for the health care problems that millions of Americans struggle with, but wants to repeal the law that solves many of those problems. Tom Reed agrees with some of the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, but wants to repeal it anyway. For Reed, toeing the line has become uninspired, and frankly unacceptable. This kind of partisan posturing does nothing to help his constituents, and embodies everything that people hate about Washington.

Augusta Christensen
Ithaca, NY

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