Be among sheep; not among goats

On Jan. 28, Congressman Hultgren proudly proclaimed his vote to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act. We should all be so gratified that he is looking out for all of us so well. Why not put his smiling face alongside constituents in his district whose health insurance has been canceled because they had a claim for a catastrophic illness, a family who was denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition, or someone who cannot take a better job because a dependent has a pre-existing condition and would not qualify for medical coverage?

Feature him with someone in the district who was forced into bankruptcy because they had no insurance and had the misfortune of becoming ill and paying incredibly high medical bills; or had their insurance canceled because they became ill and needed the insurance they had paid into for many years only to be canceled and left with a mountain of unpayable bills.

Maybe he should explain his vote to someone who has not had coverage for over six months due to a pre-existing condition that caused their insurance to be canceled and now has an opportunity to buy health coverage through a state pool.

Maybe the Congressman will be fortunate and when his children graduate from college, they will immediately be employed and not need the security of continued health coverage as young adults. But if your children are not so fortunate; well, too bad for you.

The congressman certainly benefits from the health coverage that all taxpayers provide him. His position is consistent with that of the Republican Party — don’t get sick; but if you do, die quickly.

Certainly the Affordable Health Care Act is imperfect and needs improvement. The benefits are frustratingly slow in coming and in reaching those in need as soon as they should. There are features in the act that benefit all. For millions of people in this country and many within our congressional district, the act has the promise of a better day. For the Congressman to suggest that repeal is the better idea demonstrates that he has no compassion, no conscience and evidently no clue. Congressman Hultgren might use his short two years to actually try to do something positive rather than be part of the herd. He should search his soul about how to be among the sheep and not among the goats (see Matthew 25: 31-46.)

Fred Linebarger

St. Charles