The Senate is considering a repeal/replace bill for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) called the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), and I say, better care for whom?
Not for Alaskans! Roughly 1 in 4 Alaskans (185,000), nearly half of whom are children, are enrolled in Medicaid or its Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). And yet the BCRA proposes massive cuts to Medicaid and CHIP.
Additionally, the BCRA would make cuts and changes to the ACA premium subsidies. My husband and I recently retired and for an interim period we are relying on the ACA (and its premium subsidies) for our health care coverage. Without the premium subsidies our insurance costs would be unaffordable.
Proposed cuts that include Medicaid funding and ACA premium subsidies, for what purpose? To fund tax cuts for the wealthy! I say that’s unacceptable. I say that our Congress must move forward in a bipartisan way to craft any improvements to the ACA which may be needed — for affordable insurance and affordable health care spending. Call our senators (Lisa Murkowski, 202-224-6665; and Dan Sullivan, 202-224-3004) and tell them to put patients before politics, vote “no” on the BCRA.
Kim Rivera
Juneau/Tenakee Springs