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Dear Congressman Harris,
I realize this may fall on deaf ears given your campaign focus of not only repeal, but belittlement of the Affordable Care Act by constantly referring to it as "Obamacare". I realize your predecessor also voted against the ACA when the final vote came. I realize you believe there are elements in the ACA that you do not like. Despite knowing this, I strongly urge you to reconsider the real impact of repeal on the average American.
Entire life savings and home ownerships drained away in a flash to help a family member in serious medical need. Denial of coverage for "pre-existing conditions". Denials of coverage that breach the coverage contract, yet fit some bizarre unrelated loophole that insurers use to justify denial of service. Denial of a reasonable appeal system for such denials while simultaneously combating life-draining illness. A return to a focus on emergency room as first contact for minimally tens of millions of Americans, repeal would reinstate the denial of actual health care and replace it once again with the failed system of overburdened, inefficient and neglectful emergency management.
The ACA is not perfect. It does however provide massive improvements to patient protections that have been overlooked and passed on to future Congresses for decades. The GOP call for repeal and replace has been replaced by a call for just repeal. Not too shocking really given the history of a primarily Republican-led Congress and White House over the last decade. All we got was a drugs for seniors program that left the donut hole gap in the wake of the greatest gift to drug companies - taxpayer dollars for national scale drug purchases at exorbitant prices. Hell, I get a better deal by buying a month's worth of toilet paper at Sam's Club. That's small scale bulk rate. National scale drug buys with no discount is inexcusable fiscal irresponsibility. I realize you were not part of that Congressional process. But given your rhetoric on "Obamacare" and your campaign of repeal, I have no reason to trust you would fight to replace a repeal with anything offering comparable patient protections as the ACA. I have no reason to trust you would even work for any type of replacement, period.
Now let's look at the despicable way this Senate repeal attempt is wormed into other bills. It is a practice that no party is innocent of, but a practice that constantly distorts or destroys the benefits of good legislation. To attach this repeal attempt in the Senate to an aviation bill is a reprehensible act.
Repeal of the Affordable Care Act will drastically affect tens of millions of Americans in very negative ways. Far more than the simple inconvenience of a one month lapse of coverage while in transition from one job to the next. Before voting to repeal or even fighting towards that goal any further, I implore you to seriously compare that one month inconvenience to not only the tens of millions of Americans who cannot afford a single month of COBRA, but who will lose life savings, homes and dignity once seriously ill. Repeal affects more than short-term political gains. Actual repeal would be disastrous to tens of millions of our fellow Americans. If you want to be productive, work to tweak the ACA for the better. We all know a repeal would not be replaced with any comparably secured patient protections for another 100 years.
