Herrera Beutler Off Base on Affordable Care Act

On You-Tube I watched the interview the editorial board of the Columbian had with Ms. Herrera Beutler, Mr. Delevar, and Mr. Dingethal.  In it, Ms. Herrera Beutler stated that she supports repealing the ACA.  She said that all she hears from people she talks to is how awful it is, how they've all lost their insurance, how their rates have sky rocketed.

Mr. Dingethal, on the other hand, said he finds that surprising, since all he hears from people is how much they like finally being able to have insurance.  Mr. Dingethal's position is supported by the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner, which, according to a July 16th article in the Tacoma News Tribune, "...estimates that Washington's 970,000 of uninsured residents had dropped by 38% to about 600,000.  That drops the uninsured rate to 8.65% of the state down from about 14%." 

Perhaps Ms. Herrera Beutler should go out and mingle with the common folk - like the 345,766 people who became newly eligible for Medicaid under the ACA. 

It is time for Ms. Herrera Beutler and all Republicans to accept the fact that by and large the ACA is working and is helping hundreds of thousands of people in our state.

If it needs tweaking, as Social Security and Medicare did, then do the tweaking. But stop sitting on your hands saying, "If we had passed health care reform, ours would have been better."  You didn't.  Your bus didn't leave the station.  Now get on the bus that is moving us ahead and help steer it!  

DIXIE WOOD
Ocean Park