Our health care system is broken just as surely as our political system is broken.
Like a lot of people, I was optimistic about what the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would do for our country. Ultimately, it ended up being something of a mixed bag. There were good points, like the fact that the ACA allowed millions of Americans to gain unprecedented access to health insurance that was previously too expensive or otherwise unattainable. It also prevented insurers from denying coverage to the most vulnerable Americans because of pre-existing conditions. And the ACA prohibited the issuance of policies with lifetime dollar limits on essential benefits.
But the ACA was definitely not perfect. Many people saw their premiums skyrocket. The ACA didn’t include coverage for vision and dental, which can be just as important in quality of life and prosperity as traditional medicine. And it also failed to target the biggest drivers of cost in health care, mainly insurance and pharmaceutical monopolies.
However, while the ACA wasn’t the picture of perfection, it was a step in the right direction. Unfortunately for the people of the 1st Congressional District of Virginia and nationwide, my opponent, Rep. Rob Wittman, continues to vote against the interests of the people in his own district. He voted to change major portions of the ACA that ultimately:
- allowed insurers to charge more for preexisting conditions,
- levied a 30 percent penalty on people who let their insurance lapse for more than two months,
- eliminated income-based tax credits and subsidies, and the taxes that paid for those subsidies,
- rolled back the expansions of Medicare; and
- allowed states to effectively enact a repeal of the ACA.
More recently, he voted in favor of expanding Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) instead of real change that will help the people of this country. The reality is that HSAs are mainly accessible to middle-income Americans, and still many with that access are not saving enough to pay for a big health cost.
Together, these two votes by Wittman have, in essence, put the burden on people to save more money to pay for their own health care — health care that is now more expensive and provides less coverage because the current administration and Republican-majority House and Senate did away with the individual mandate, thereby causing chaos in the health insurance market.
Hardworking people who are living paycheck to paycheck in light of increased costs for housing, gas, and food (among other things), especially given the recent tariffs, simply cannot afford to pay more for their health care costs on top of everything else they have to pay for already.
A minor illness, or – worst case scenario – a major accident, should not mean having to file for bankruptcy and putting everyday Americans in the red. That is why I want to retain the good from the ACA and tackle its problems in a manner that helps all Americans.
Medicare has been an overwhelming success and it’s time we make a commitment for a Medicare-for-all like system which includes coverage for dental and vision. Medicare works because we’ve untied the hands of government to negotiate with doctors, pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industry.
Just as we have made a commitment to hardworking seniors, we can make the same commitment to all hardworking Americans.
Let’s make it happen.
Vangie Williams
Candidate for Congress
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Vangie Williams is a public servant and strategic planner who solves problems for our federal government. A real-world professional with 30 years of experience, Vangie is not a career politician who will put corporate interests above people. She is committed to an economy for everyone, healthy families and investing in our communities. Learn more about her vision to put people first at www.vangieforcongress.com.
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