Affordable Care Act Works, Time to Build and Expand

To the Editor: 
President Obama’s landmark achievement, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was signed into law nearly seven years ago. Much to the chagrin of Republicans and conservatives, it has expanded health insurance to millions of individuals and families across the United States.
Throughout President Obama’s second term, Republicans in Congress worked relentlessly to repeal the healthcare reform law. And now, following the 2016 election, repeal has become a reality, and the American people are faced with the threat of premature and uninformed policy decisions, intended to slowly chip away at the monumental healthcare law.
In 2015, Carly Fiorina, former 2016 presidential hopeful, proclaimed, “Obamacare isn’t helping anyone.” This is a common narrative pushed by Republicans to undermine the ACA, and galvanize supporters to oppose the law. However, Politifact rated this quote by Fiorina as “pants on fire.” The reasons for this rating included facts and statistics that show 9.5 million individuals purchased insurance policies over the ACA exchange and 15 million individuals have been added to the rolls of the federally-funded Medicaid program.
Furthermore, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 90.9 percent of Americans have some form of health insurance, the highest percentage in American history, up from 83.7 percent in 2010 when the ACA became law.
One integral provision of the law allows states the option to expand their existing federally funded Medicaid program. A recent Pew Research Center poll showed that 80 percent of surveyed individuals approve of this provision. However, the Medicaid provision is under threat by Republicans, who have proposed to slash funding by turning the federal program into a block grant.
Currently, Medicaid is an “open-ended entitlement:” as more individuals become eligible, states receive more funding. Transforming the program into a back grant eliminates this funding stream, which in turn limits the ability of states to ensure all of the eligible Medicaid applicants.
The Washington Post explains, “states would be forced to cut health benefits for the poor, siphon off money from other programs, raise taxes or some combination of all these things.” Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper emphasizes this dilemma by insisting that states “should not be forced to choose between providing hard-working Coloradans with blood pressure medication or children with insulin.”
The Medicaid expansion has proven instrumental in how various states address the drug epidemic affecting their communities. In states that expanded Medicaid, more individuals have access to vital treatment required to defeat substance addiction.
One Ohioan, a 24-year-old woman, as a result of the state’s Medicaid expansion, received “access to prescription methadone to reduce withdrawal symptoms and counseling,” which have proven invaluable in her battle against addiction. As she explains, “Medicaid is helping so many people … Taking it away would be taking steps back,” a view furthered by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, who believes the “Medicaid block effort could cut health coverage for children, seniors, and addiction treatment.”
The American people are at a crossroads: we can either build on this progress or tear it down, taking millions of insurance policies with it.
Let’s not forget, this is a bipartisan law. It is a synthesis of a decades-long debate focusing on healthcare, from the Truman administration to the Nixon administration to the Clinton administration to Romneycare to the ACA. This law is so much more than politics and Republican disdain for President Obama. For some, it means literal life or death.
We must not inflate egos with a repeal and replace, but rather expand on the indispensable provisions of the ACA in order to improve the lives of millions of Americans.