Errington: Remember the costs of repealing Obamacare

INDIANAPOLIS – State Rep. Sue Errington issued the following statement regarding remarks made by U.S. Rep. Luke Messer concerning the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

On Tuesday, July 18, our U.S. Representative Luke Messer urged the Senate to pass a full “Obamacare” repeal bill now and work on a replacement package later. This statement should clarify for all of us exactly where Mr. Messer’s priorities lie.

By now, most of us have tired of the dramatic roller coaster ride on which the health care debate has been for the last six months. The bill has died and then been revived more times than I can track. But before we tune out altogether, it is critical that we all understand exactly what is at stake here.

This isn’t just D.C. “politics as usual,” as Congressman Messer writes in his statement. It’s more than a political end zone that one party hopes to breach, while the other locks down on defense.

This is about people’s lives and independence and well-being. It is about having the ability to see a doctor and get the care you need, whether you are running a Fortune 500 company or driving a truck for a local grocer. It’s about being able to afford well-check visits for your kids and medicine when they get sick, and having access to regular screenings for things as mundane as high cholesterol and blood sugar.

Most of all, it’s about knowing that if something terrible happens to you or a loved one and you find yourself in the hospital battling a life-changing injury or illness, that you can get the care, medication and therapies that you need to get back on your feet without going broke in the process.

Obamacare has its faults, but we cannot simply eliminate it from existence and allow 22 million more people to become uninsured.

Americans deserve good health care no matter what their political stripe or economic status. Our elected officials should be fighting for that protection for all of us.