Protecting the Affordable Care Act

Being snowed in for 3 days with my daughter Nicole gave us the opportunity to talk about political issues that we hadn’t had time to discuss with our busy lives. I was proud to hear about her marching and activism to stop the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare). Yup! She and her fellow ER docs have been advocating for the sick and the poor who have benefitted from the ACA during the Obama Administration.  At Harbor UCLA Hospital, most of her patients have utilized the ACA (aka ObamaCare) for their medical care, and without the ACA, the people who need medical assistance most will not be able to afford it.  Only the young, healthy, and wealthy benefit by repealing the Affordable Care Act.  

Many Americans don’t know that “ObamaCare” IS the Affordable Care Act.  Can you believe it? Nicole says that some of her patients are confused by the rhetoric and state that they want to get rid of ObamaCare! She is surprised that she has to explain to her low-income patients that they need ObamaCare and that without it they would lose medical care, medications, and treatment. 

Dr. Trevor Wilson, one of Nicole’s co-residents at Harbor UCLA, wrote a letter that you can sign to join their movement to save the Affordable Care Act.  Click here to sign and be added to the list of supporters.

Here is the full text of the letter:

For The Health Of The People

Please read the letter below regarding the Affordable Care Act’s imminent repeal. If you support this letter and would like to add your signature below, please fill out the form following the letter. You will receive an e-mail confirmation that your signature has been added to the list of supporters.

If you would like to share your stories, expertise, commentary, or other information related to this topic, you may add an addendum to the letter via this parallel page: Stories Of The People  These responses will be made public online so please do not share any confidential or identifying information unless you are approving of it being public. 

Disclosure: We have no financial conflicts of interest. Specifically, we do not receive any funds from clicking on this site or signing this letter and do not use advertising for funding.

Letter:

Dear President-Elect Trump and Congressional Members of the Senate and House:

This is an open, bipartisan letter, written by those of us who provide and advocate for health care. Among us are doctors, nurses, lawyers, social workers, advocates, students, and caregivers who have worked with thousands of patients since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We are also citizens who have been witness to the changes the ACA has made in the lives of friends and family.  What unites us is concern that a single act of Congress will mean the difference between life, serious illness, and possible death for millions of Americans.

Before the ACA, millions of Americans, even infants, were unable to obtain or maintain coverage due to pre-existing conditions and lifetime maximum limits. Altogether, over 47 million Americans were uninsured. For our patients, this has meant the difference between being able to pay for treatment or losing their homes and entire life savings. For others, it meant foregoing treatment altogether and having to rely solely on emergency care. Collectively, we have witnessed patients with conditions like congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, asthma and mental health disorders unnecessarily suffer from inadequate access to primary care.  And in many other cases, we have seen resultant strokes, heart disease, kidney disease or failure, blindness, loss of limb, heart attacks and other organ damage, all due to a lack of access to preventative care.  

It is undisputed that lacking comprehensive access to health care causes morbidity and mortality and results in far greater expenditures of treatment resources and costs.  Ethically, we believe that not providing adequate access to quality, affordable, healthcare for all Americans is simply immoral. Accordingly, we are gravely concerned about the threat of the ACA’s imminent repeal and are advocating that you utilize your responsibility as entrusted public servants to ensure that the lives of American children, families, persons with disabilities, and senior citizens are not left without quality access to health care.

In addition to expanding Medicaid and providing health care subsidies to millions, the ACA and its implementing regulations have also provided critical protections against discrimination by gender, race, disability, and sexual orientation; mandated maximum out of pocket costs; as well as preventative coverage for mammograms, pap smears, and vaccines. Certainly the law, as every piece of legislation, would benefit from an iterative process of improvements, however, it is imperative that any intended replacement must not fall below the basic benefits and protections the ACA already provides.

President-Elect Trump and Member of Congress, we ask: What do you want your legacy to be? Do you want to be remembered as the politician whose party allegiance superseded morality at the cost of the health of millions of Americans? Or do you want to be remembered as the leader of your respective constituents who rose above partisan politics, acted for the greater good of the people and embodied the role of an ethical statesman or stateswoman? At this crucial juncture in American history we hope you will answer our call by ensuring that the health of millions of Americans is not jeopardized and that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care coverage.

Respectfully,

Trevor Wilson M.D. Emergency Department Physician
Marina Pantchenko, Esq. Disability Rights Attorney