Revised Letter

        Is anyone else confused about the future of the Affordable Care Act? I realize Congress is. The Post Star recently reported that Rep. Stefanik wants to replace it over a period of three years. One question I have is, "replace it with what?" She's run on "repeal and replace Obamacare" twice. And done well with that. She's had over 2 years to think about alternative plans. Other members have had over 6 years. So now she wants to implement a plan, which they don't have, over 3 years? President Trump recently said he has a plan that's "very much formulated down to the final strokes." His statements go straight to the circular alternative fact file now.

     Despite the fact that there is no plan, Ms. Stefanik voted for a budget bill that allows ACA to be repealed with no replacement. Pardon my skepticism, but my faith in what I hear from elected officials was a lot higher before January 20th. A laurel and hearty handshake to Rep. Katko, a downstate GOP member, who voted nay because there was no successor to ACA in sight. Rep. Ryan and Senator McConnell "expect to put legislation repealing and partially replacing the law by the end of March." I wonder if the health insurance industry has the same queasy feeling I do over that word "partially."

     Why not work on fixing ACA? Obviously some of it is being retained anyway. The alternative is that it becomes Trumpcare. I can see a lot of Democrats running on repeal and replace Trumpcare in a year and a half when that becomes a debacle. Right now it looks like there's a different plan for every GOP member of Congress. That's not a recipe for success.

I didn't get it into this letter, but here's my analogy. Congressional Republicans are like contractors who have the wrecking ball all cued up to demolish your house. But then, you're going to be homeless (or in this case insurance-less) until they draw up the blueprints to build you a new house.

Here is a link to polling done on Obamacare and Planned Parenthood.
 Almost two-thirds of American voters oppose cutting off federal funding for Planned Parenthood, according to a new Quinnipiac poll released on Friday.

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The questions came as part of a survey of public opinion on Obamacare, on which most Americans either supported alterations but not a full repeal (51 percent) or no alterations at all (30 percent).