Dear Editor,
Rumor has it Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will reveal the secret healthcare bill on Thursday. That’s right – the words “rumor” and “secret” best define a bill that would affect all 326,474,013 Americans, a bill that would throw 19-23 million people off insurance, a bill that would decimate essential benefits like maternity care, mental health treatment, and addiction services, a bill that would allow insurance companies to charge more for pre-existing conditions and put strict annual and lifetime limits on how much they would cover and pay for, a bill that would destroy Medicaid (a program that has been a successful cost-effective safety net for 52 years), and a bill that could cause as many as 43,956 new deaths per year.
83% of Americans, many governors, and 50+ groups (the American Medical Association, Cancer Society, even the insurance trade group and some insurance companies) oppose the AHCA and the Senate’s likely version.
So why are our Senators supporting it?
I would hate to believe that the callous answer is this: the AHCA and it’s likely Senate version will cut tax revenue by $765 billion. $765 billion, intended to keep us healthy, taken away from poor, working, and middle class Americans. $765 billion handed to insurance and pharmaceutical corporations and the uber-wealthy.
Call Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis NOW and remind them they represent us and we think this bill doesn’t make a lick of sense.
Jeanne Supin
Watauga County