“Frankly I don’t believe access to health care is a right,” so said First District Congressman Hagedorn at a recent town hall.  “Obamacare” as he calls the Affordable Care Act “is a disaster.”

Is it a disaster for children to stay on their parents health insurance until age 26? Or for people with pre-existing conditions to not be denied health coverage by insurance companies? Or that insurance companies can’t discriminate against women by charging higher premiums as they did before ACA?

Insurance policies must now cover mental health care as part of the essential health benefits in ACA.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, insurance premiums went down in 2019 and could have decreased even more if not for the regulatory sabotages on ACA made by this administration. Their research also shows that since 2014, when the law went into effect 26.6 million more Americans now have health care coverage.

Not a disaster but an achievement.

While the law does need adjustments, it has positive measurable outcomes. Hagedorn chooses not to acknowledge this. He wants a healthcare system that puts citizens with pre-existing conditions into high risk pools.

He wants loosely regulated short term policies to replace the essential benefit plans that insurance companies must now offer. Those ideas would be a disaster for the citizens of the First District.

Judy Bird

Byron, MN