William McNairy: ACA deserves our support

As someone covered by Obamacare, I strongly urge voters to elect candidates supporting the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare.

Many Republicans assert that Obamacare is broken and too costly – repealing Obamacare is a key element of their campaigns. These politicians claim that they will replace Obamacare with a “better” alternative, yet fail to present their detailed plan for public inspection.

Imagine allowing these politicians to apply the same “we’ll repeal then we’ll reveal” method to other important social programs that they oppose. Could we support repealing Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare rather than passing legislation to improve them? No public or private program has ever been created that satisfied all people or that met all needs.

The ACA covers millions of the previously uninsured, saves taxpayers’ money for health care and improves the quality of life of those insured. While costs of many ACA policies will rise in the next few years, the increase in states who fully embraced Obamacare are projected to be one-third less than in states that fully opposed it.

An ACA that works for the great majority, lowers cost increases below historical levels and expands coverage to all 50 states needs our support and deserves our vote this election.

This story was originally published November 7, 2016 at 9:36 PM with the headline "William McNairy: ACA deserves our support."