Trump re-election will spell the end of ACA

Diane Opelt

Greenwood

Editor:

Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandated coverage of pre-existing health conditions, many people were unable to access health insurance that covered their pre-existing health problems. I know of people who were able to buy health insurance but not insurance that covered their asthma or their high blood pressure. The occasional insurance that did cover their pre-existing condition was extraordinarily costly. The ACA, passed 10 years ago, was a godsend for these individuals. Today health insurance coverage of pre-existing conditions is again in danger. For four years, President Donald Trump has vowed to rid the United States of the Affordable Care Act, and he may get his opportunity soon after the November election. The justices of the Supreme Court will hear the legality of the ACA one week after the election. If President Trump gets his way and seats a conservative judge to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court, it is very possible that the ACA will be eliminated and along with it mandated coverage of pre-existing conditions.

President Trump has repeatedly promised that he will replace the ACA with something better, even setting specific deadlines. But those deadlines have come and gone and not even a rough plan has ever been made public.

I’m sure people with pre-existing conditions do not want to go back to the days when it was impossible to find and afford health insurance that covered all their health needs, but that is what may happen with the seating of a conservative justice and the re-election of Donald Trump.