Senator Bob Corker spoke of going beyond "the romance of all this" referring to the ACA. As if affordable health care is some romantic notion that we all need to get past. Really? It's called real life for most of us.
Medical bills are the number one cause of personal bankruptcies in the U.S. I had hoped Senators Corker and Alexander could rise above spin and politics when discussing a subject as crucial to the middle class as medical coverage. I had hoped that they could be problem solvers but I've yet to see anything constructive offered by either one of them.
The ACA is not the law that we all wanted, so show us a workable alternative. Premiums have been rising faster than inflation for years. Companies have been using part time help to avoid giving benefits for years.
Senators, if you don't like the law, come up with something better, and then repeal. This expensive and time consuming farce of voting over and over to repeal is simply pandering, and it is ridiculous.
Melissa Cantrell
Signal Mountain
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I read with interest the opinion of Melissa Cantrell about the subject of health care and the Affordable Care Act and Senator Corker's comments. It never ceases to amaze me that no one in Washington is talking about the impact to our economy as it relates to health care and illegal immigration. She is spot on about the never ending escalation of premiums she just missed the mark on how high it is. Health care premiums have been sky rocketing with double digit yearly increases since the 1990's. If property taxes increased 15-30 percent a year for 20 years do you think it would raise some eyebrows?
Health care costs are now a huge line item in the family budget especially for those of us that are at or near retirement age. If I could purchase affordable health care Insurance, say $300-$500 a month for a husband and wife, instead of the current $1,300 a month, I and many others in the same boat would have a lot more disposable income every month which would definitely stimulate the economy.
The increasing cost of health care is a direct reflection of Illegal Immigration and the toll it is taking on our broken system. There are of course many other reasons but in my humble opinion the cost of health care for some 11-12 million illegal aliens cannot be sustained. Senator Corker's plan that is being bandied about in Washington now is not the answer. His plan calls for amnesty for those already here and increased security at the border that should have been secured 50 years ago. All of the money he has earmarked does nothing but continue to fuel the exorbitant profits of the huge defense contractors. As for the amnesty, we have laws on the books now for people to become U.S. citizens and to grant amnesty to those that are here illegally is a slap in the face to those that have gone through the process we have established.
I definitely agree with Ms. Cantrell about all of the "hot air" surrounding the repeal of Obamacare. It is a farce that was half-baked from the beginning and someone in Washington needs to come up with a workable solution fast. Instead of the gridlock we have now in Washington we desperately need some fresh, new and plausible answers to these and the many other problems that are rapidly moving this once great country to 3rd world status.
O. M. (Mickey) Spence Jr.