Elissa Davis: It’s our neighbors who are losing health care insurance

To The Laconia Sun,

​If the tax credits​ that make health care insurance affordable under the Affordable Care Act are ripped away, millions of Americans will find that they can no longer afford their health insurance. The people that are at risk of losing their health insurance are not illegal immigrants as the Republicans would have us believe. They are our neighbors. They might include the aide in readers' child's classroom, their hairdresser, or the owner of the small business where readers like to shop. Family farmers are at a great risk of losing their health coverage. People with chronic conditions are ​i​n the greatest ​d​anger of not being able to afford the care they desperately need.​

Democrats in the Senate are insisting that the tax credits for Affordable Health Care be restored before the ​b​udget is passed.​ Republicans are delaying work on the Affordable Health Care tax credits​ until the budget is passed. Why are the Democrats being so insistent on this ​now?​ The answer is really simple. If passing the extension of the tax credits to the Affordable Care Act is delayed, the Congressional budget office estimates that 1.5 million Americans will lose their health coverage immediately. We cannot afford to wait to extend those credits. Fifty-nine percent of Republican voters agree that those tax credits for Affordable Health Care are needed.

If more people lose their Affordable Care coverage, they will rely on uninsured care in the emergency rooms. This will put a huge financial burden on hospitals, possibly causing some of the smaller ones to close. The hospitals will charge private insurance companies more, which will in turn raise rates for everyone who still has private coverage.

Health care should be a right for all and not be a partisan issue.

Elissa Davis

Meredith