Gaither Campaign for Rural America

The case against the Graham-Cassidy healthcare repeal bill is complicated.

As usual, the GOP is light on the details, hoping that someone else will do the right thing or that we’re not paying attention.

Within the bill, there is language that allows states to determine what “adequate and affordable” means for those of us with pre-existing conditions. This would mean higher premiums and deductibles for the chronically ill, the disabled, aging populations, as well as for veterans. That’s a big NO GO for me.

It also allows states to deny preventive care and services. These efforts save money down the road. This includes denial of maternity care, childbirth, and even mental health, which includes treatment for opioid addiction. Considering how the opioid epidemic is ravaging communities and families across the country, this seems the exact wrong direction to take healthcare.

The main thrust of the GOP effort to repeal Obamacare is the Medicaid expansion. In states like Illinois that expanded Medicaid, it will result in the loss of healthcare coverage for roughly a million people. Hard working Americans were able to gain access to Medicaid under Obamacare. The GOP wants to take that choice off the table. 

None of this is to discount the very serious problems with Obamacare and Medicaid.

We have to fix the law, protect healthcare for those it helps, fix it for those who are being hurt with high premiums and deductibles, and send retroactive checks to those low wage workers that were hit with tax penalties for not having coverage.

We have to be relentless in our pursuit for better, more affordable healthcare. We cannot stop until no one is left behind. We can do that by electing different people to Congress. People that know how vital healthcare is, how it works, how it can work better for people, and that will never stop fighting.

I have a history of doing just that. I won’t stop as I know personally the costs of dismantling healthcare programs. These are life and death decisions that are current representative to Congress takes cavalierly. I won’t.

Photo: Fortune.com