Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

GUEST COLUMN:

Fight to protect ACA is personal

Editor’s note: Today, the Sun continues its occasional series of guest columns focusing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court.

As we approach the 53rd anniversary of the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid on Monday, I can attest that those programs and related initiatives like the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Affordable Care Act work.

I also know the effects of the Republican Party’s attacks on our care, because they almost cost me my life.

Just over a year ago, I was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I am still here today because of the ACA, but I had to fight to keep that care.

The Medicare and Medicaid programs were signed into law in 1965, and since then, they have allowed millions of working American families to access high-quality, affordable health care.

But despite this progress, the GOP continues to be obsessed with stripping our health care to the bone. In just the past few months, the Trump administration finalized junk health insurance rules, initiated massive cuts to health care navigator programs and, in one of its most dangerous acts yet, nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Kavanaugh has made it clear that he would not defend families’ access to affordable health care. He spoke out against a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the ACA, and he has repeatedly proven that he just wants to pander to the radical right wing.

Our lawmakers are not doing enough to stand up to these extremists and President Donald Trump.

Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., refuses to openly reject Kavanaugh as the nominee, and continues to put all of our care in danger in his obsessive quest to “repeal and replace” with empty promises.

Every time Heller fails to reject these radical Trump appointees or votes to strip away our health care, he puts my life at risk. And I am not alone.

Just in our state, over 644,000 people rely on Medicaid/CHIP to access the care they need. Eighteen percent rely on Medicaid. Fifteen percent rely on Medicare. These are our neighbors, our friends and our loved ones.

I am a health care voter. Join me in raising your voice and demanding that our lawmakers openly and loudly reject Kavanaugh. And if they don’t, prepare to march to the polls to raise our voices again in November.

Laura Packard is a small-business owner in Las Vegas, a health care advocate and co-chair at Health Care Voter, an organization that advocates for affordable health care.