The election is finally over and the people have made their voices heard. Many people say this was the most negative and nasty campaign and were totally disgusted with both candidates. I wondered whatever happened to being civil and discussing the issues that would actually make people’s lives better. One issue that was important to me was the continuation and improvement of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). 

The first thing I heard on the news Wednesday morning was that the Republicans’ agenda will be to abolish Obamacare. There have been a lot of problems lately because insurers are taking losses by covering people with chronic conditions or those who have become sicker than normal due to years without medical care and were to get partial reimbursements for losses. 

I personally know what it’s like to feel anger because my brother died after being denied medical care to replace a defibrillator battery. He couldn’t get insurance and they didn’t want to set up payment arrangements so he died driving home from his job 15 months later. That is why we fought long and hard for health care reform. 

Maybe there are enough compassionate people to say we can never go back to the barbaric system of the past when people were forced to die in their cars, on the street or in their homes because they couldn’t get health insurance.

ANN STANTON
Baden

First Published: November 13, 2016, 5:00 a.m.