Today's Talker: Obamacare is under threat, lives are at stake

Monday, April 1

Obamacare is under threat, lives are at stake

'Is this what MAGA looks like? Having people choose between paying rent or buying critical medication that keeps them alive?' asks Frederick Isasi.

White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that he could guarantee Americans would not lose health coverage if the Affordable Care Act is struck down in a court challenge.

Apparently, MAGA means unaffordable health care

By Frederick Isasi

At a time when one in four Americans are forgoing needed health care because they simply can't afford to see their doctor or buy their prescription drugs, the Trump administration is making the situation worse.

It is waging war on some of our country's most vulnerable people — children, the terminally ill, people with disabilities and the elderly — by urging the complete judicial repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Such an action would leave millions of families without health care coverage, their health care costs would increase exponentially, and our nation would erase hard-won protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

Is this what making America great again looks like? Having people choose between paying rent or buying critical medication that keeps them alive? Apparently, to the Trump administration, it does.

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Beyond supporting judicial activism to repeal the ACA, President Donald Trump's administration has authorized multiple forms of junk insurance coverage that can discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, deny essential health benefits like life-saving prescription drugs, refuse to cover catastrophic medical costs, and destabilize the consumer-protected market by luring young and healthy adults out of that market.

In sharp contrast to this, we see action from Congress to support meaningful coverage and financial security for our nation's families. For example, Democratic House chairs have introduced the Protecting Americans with Pre-existing Conditions Act, which repeals policies that permit the broad operation of the president's junk health insurance policies.

Let's be clear, people's lives and the future of our nation's families hang in the balance. Take, for example, the Eilers family in California. Nine-year-old Myka was born with an undiagnosed heart defect and, as a result, will forever be labeled as having a pre-existing condition. She spent the first few weeks of her life in the neonatal intensive care unit and had two open heart surgeries before her first birthday. At some point, she will require a heart valve replacement. Without the ACA and the protections it offers for individuals with pre-existing conditions, the Eilers worry that Myka will be unable to secure coverage for her heart, or that she will be subject to the return of lifetime caps.

We live in one of the wealthiest nations in the world. We spend twice as much on health care than other high-income nations on health care. The Eilers and all in our nation deserve the ability to receive the health care they need to live to their greatest potential. It is one of the most important measures of our society, and it's what making America great truly looks like.

Frederick Isasi is the executive director of Families USA. You can follow him on Twitter: @FrederickIsasi.

Trump pokes Obamacare

Rick McKee/The Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle/PoliticalCartoons.com

What others are saying

Nicholas Bagley, The New York Times : "The Trump administration has signaled loud and clear that its campaign against Obamacare is not over, that it will stop at nothing to achieve in court what it could not achieve in Congress, and that it doesn't care how many people are hurt if the Affordable Care Act is undone. It has also put health care back at the center of the political conversation. Republicans already took a beating on the issue in the fall midterm elections, and Democrats, who released a bill in the House to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, want to keep running on it. They'll be sure to remind voters of the Trump administration's zealous commitment to taking away their health care."

Alexandra Petri, The Washington Post: "The GOP is the party of health care! The Justice Department is asking an appeals court to invalidate the entire ACA, but don't worry, the GOP is going to be 'the Party of Great HealthCare ,' and it is going to replace what currently exists (a health care system) with something even better: the void; oblivion; the rush of wings of an enormous eagle departing, never to return!"

Robert Henneke and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, FoxNews.com : "First, President Donald Trump is recommitting our nation to health care freedom and to removing the constraints placed on market forces. Second, he is putting the force of the Department of Justice behind the very legitimate constitutional issue originally raised. ... Instead of letting fear and tepidity rule the day, we should embrace the opportunity to present a third way for health care in America, a way past the current broken regulated 'managed' care system — made worse by Obamacare — and the top-down, budget-busting 'Medicare for All.' "

What our readers are saying

If Republicans have a great health care plan — better than what we have with the Affordable Care Act — why don't they present it in Congress? The answer is easy: They simply do not have a plan.

— Ed Wilts

Translation on Mick Mulvaney's guarantee that no one would lose their coverage even if the ACA were to be struck down: We're going to say whatever we need to say so we can repeal Obamacare and replace it with Trumpcare, which will be the exact same thing only with a different name that Republicans will unanimously love simply because it has Trump's name on it.

— Austin Williams

Mulvaney's point is probably that insurance will still be available, but you may no longer be able to afford it — and that is your problem.

— Joseph Breckenridge

Coverage is not really the issue. What is covered and the costs are the issue. We need an affordable national health insurance that guarantees care for all, just like some of the other high-income countries.

— Patricia Tally

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