Editor:
A recent report from the Oregon Governor’s Office attempts to make it clear: Anything “Republicans” do to replace Obamacare will be a disaster! All poor people will lose their insurance!
Fear! Fear! Fear!
What exists sucks and if left alone, it will only suck worse, all by itself.
One of the biggest problems with Obamacare was the “short- term Federal Financial Aid” to states because of the increased Medicare and Medicaid costs under Obamacare.
The amount of federal money would be substantially reduced year to year by the federal government to be made up by the states. Most of the reduction in numbers of people covered due to increased cost of insurance to those who cannot afford it, and the reduced number of plans available that happened last year.
To date, nothing in Obamacare has been changed. It is performing exactly how it was designed to perform.
It is failing the very people it was supposed to help and harming millions of others along the way.
Unlike Obamacare, the replacement plan being considered is being debated in Congress and changes are made public.
President Trump started the debate by stating he would support several provisions for the plan that many Republicans did not support – extended coverage for dependents up to 26 years, existing condition provisions, and such.
It’s not finished and with the House voting on the initial version, which will go to the Senate and be revised and worked over and then go back and forth until a final bill is put before the president, there is plenty of time to hopefully come up with a plan that will be more reasonable and financially responsible than Obamacare has proven to be.
In the meantime, nothing has been done to the existing Obamacare Act. Everything that is happening with people losing coverage and cost increases would be happening no matter who had been elected.
As far as the Governor’s Report? I wouldn’t trust Gov. Brown at all for anything, not because I dis-agree with her values and how she is directing the state, but because she has proven she has no regard for the rule of law or the opinion of anyone who doesn’t have a “D” in front of their name.
She is supposed to be representing the values of all Oregonians and she is not doing so.
Once again, I will state my humble opinion: The problem with health care is not insurance, it is the cost of health care. Until solving that becomes the debate, we are all in for a long hard season.
Tim Riley
Sweet Home