Elected leaders need to fight for ACA

To the Editor:

This health care reform debate is personal to me, as I lived with “pre-existing condition” (acute asthma) and was denied coverage when I got my first job after college.

There were many prescriptions that were not covered, and as a young 20-something, I was often forced to choose between paying my bills or getting treatments. This is simply unacceptable.

As controversial as it, the Affordable Care Act helped a lot of people in situations like me and fixed the flaws in the pre-existing condition determination and made health care accessible to millions.

This is not a perfect system by any means, but it is one that we should build off and not scrap for more radical overhauls like Medicare for All or the Public/Buy-In Option. These two reforms would remove any competition and eradicate any incentive for price negotiations, giving the government a full monopoly over our health care.

There is a critical need for private insurance, and I encourage our elected leaders to continue fighting for cost controls, accessibility and quality through the ACA and not any further radical reform.

— Melissa Firstenberger

Tipp City