Protecting access to health insurance — PA legislature needs to do the right thing

To the Editor:

Before now, health care insurance access regardless of pre-existing conditions had seemingly bipartisan support and surprising support from the Trump Administration.

However, in the latest of a long line of disturbing actions, the Trump Administration has unilaterally switched its previously held position and has urged the Texas federal court to strike down two specific provisions from the ACA: one that requires coverage of people with pre-existing conditions and another that prevents insurers from charging a higher premium because of pre-existing conditions.

This reversal could result in nearly one-third of all Americans, including thousands of Pennsylvanians in our state House District, losing most, if not all, of their health insurance coverage as soon as next year.

Our state Legislature cannot stand idly by and allow millions of Pennsylvanians to suffer from this administration’s dangerous efforts to erase former President Obama’s legacy. We can all agree that Obamacare isn’t perfect, so before we completely gut it, we should realize that we can actually fix it.

Therefore, I strongly urge our elected state legislative leaders to begin hearings to ensure health insurance protection for the citizens of this great commonwealth.

The only way to protect Pennsylvanians from the Trump Administration’s newly found hostility toward coverage for preexisting conditions is to work across the aisle to get something done. We must be fighting to make it easier, not more difficult, for individuals with the greatest need to get the treatments that are literally a matter of life or death.

While many Republican Senators have expressed their dismay at this latest move, there is concern that this resistance may be too little, too late.

If there is sincere concern about protecting those individuals with pre-existing conditions from having their benefits stripped from them, then Republicans at the state level need to join with Democrats in not only pressing the Trump Administration to rescind this heartless decision to remove the protections for this vital provision, but need to go one step further to implement protections at the state level, lest this regrettably becomes a reality.

As your next state representative, I vow to fight for a Medicaid expansion to ensure that Pennsylvanians in need, regardless of their financial standing, can get the health care that they deserve. And with the health of Pennsylvanians at stake, this is too important for our Legislature to kick the can down the road and blame it on a scheduled summer break.