Opinion: The Republicans’ sickening plan to repeal and replace Obamacare

To the editor: Unfortunately, your front-page, above-the-fold headline is incorrect. (“Republicans unveil plan to repeal and replace Obamacare amid conflicting pressures,” March 6)

The Republicans do not have a plan to “replace” Obamacare. They do have a scheme to eliminate the Affordable Care Act and once again leave Americans awash in a sea of incomprehensible, irreconcilable, incomplete and ineffective private insurance plans, which will be unaffordable and irrelevant to real medical needs as well.

Charles Richardson, Altadena

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To the editor: The biggest mistake the Democrats made in proposing sweeping healthcare reform was calling the bill the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. That unwieldy name, with its boring acronym, didn’t work in headlines or spoken on radio and TV, so some in the media nicknamed it Obamacare.

Others picked up on that name, which is why Republicans were determined to make it go away.

So I say this to Republicans: Your first duty is to give your bill, the American Health Care Act, a catchy name; AmHealth, perhaps. No acronyms. Hire someone who specializes in this stuff. If you don’t, it will default to Trumpcare, and in a few years we will be mired in the same muck we are now.

I want this country to have its healthcare access problem solved by the time the next Ebola crisis comes around. We all stay healthy when we all have the opportunity to stay healthy.

Diane Scholfield, Vista

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To the editor: Many people who favor Obamacare say that healthcare is a human right. They are wrong.

Healthcare provided by someone else to you is a benefit. You have every right to provide healthcare for yourself or whatever else you want, but that comes under the pursuit of happiness, not the guarantee of it. Rights are things you already have that should not be taken from you, such as the freedoms spelled out in the Bill of Rights.

If healthcare is a human right, why not food and housing? Surely they are as important. But they can’t be rights because in order to give you food you might have to take it away from someone else. But in order to give you freedom of speech nothing has to be taken.

Mike Cassidy, West Hills

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To the editor: Thank goodness the new plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act will adhere to that basic GOP need for helping the rich keep their money. So what if millions lose their coverage?

Steve Jorgensen, Dana Point

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