To the editor:
What will we Americans do to save 53,000 American lives every year? Twenty-seven million Americans could lose coverage in the first year of repeal of the Affordable Care Act, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This is in addition to the 26 million who did not have health insurance in 2015. A Harvard School of Public Health study finds that for every thousand people without health care, one dies each year.
Candidate Donald Trump said, “I am going to take care of everybody. I don’t care if it costs me votes or not. Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now,”on September 27, 2015 on 60 Minutes.
As Americans we believe all are created equal, have rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and we institute governments to protect these rights. As Catholics we believe in the sanctity of life.
Repealing the Affordable Care Act without first replacing it with a comprehensive health care system that covers all Americans means that Congress and the president are directly and personally responsible for the deaths that occur from this action. This is morally unacceptable for Catholics and Americans.
Bill Dagnon, Baraboo