#2020Matters | Not Caring About the ACA Is Arrogant

The ACA is in danger. Then why are so many Americans more consumed with Donald Trump’s self-inflicted health crisis than our own? One word, arrogance.

I have a disability and a pre-existing condition. Knowing that an insurance company cannot deny me coverage or needlessly hike up premiums helps me sleep at night. Programs like the ACA and Medicare are one of the many things that makes our country great.

That’s all up in the air now because Republicans are obsessed with gutting the ACA today, including Medicaid expansion. After that, they plan to turn their attention to Medicare and do away with the program that supports our seniors.

But here’s the deal (as Joe Biden would say…): We all need to be more vocal about this — with each other, with our elected officials, with the media and at the ballot box.

Many are doing this, but not all. For years now I’ve wondered why. I kept shying away from a simple explanation— it’s arrogance.

If someone is employed and has benefits, or they are healthy and have good genes to thank for no health issues, they may not care. At least they may not care enough to raise a ruckus, or even vote against the elected public servants who want to repeal the ACA.

But that’s arrogant.

If you believe that you will never lose your job, that’s arrogant.

If you’re confident that you will always be healthy, that’s arrogant.

If you “know” that you will never be in the wrong place at the wrong time or that you could never be in a car or skiing accident, that’s arrogant.

If you’re in denial that you will age to a point that your body will stop functioning as well as it does today, that’s arrogant.

I’m not saying it will happen to everyone. I’m just saying it could happen to anyone.

This isn’t arrogance as in “everyone is a snob.” This is pure hubris — believing that you are untouchable and shielded from anything bad.

• According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 1 in 4 Americans live with a disability.
• The CDC also reports that the chances of disability increase with age; 2 in 5 Americans 65 or older have a disability.
• According to the Department of Health & Human Services, around 133 million Americans have pre-existing conditions.

Disability and health conditions transcend socio-economic class, race, gender, religion and political party. Caring about something like the ACA or Medicare is caring about what you or a loved one may need in the future. To feel like it doesn’t apply to you or just not give a s*** is not only naive, it is arrogant.

At this moment in time, America is not at risk of becoming a socialist country with Joe Biden as President and a Democratic majority in the Senate and House. Rather, under the heavy hand of a Republican majority, America is at risk of being a country that is not for the people, and whose people were too arrogant to realize it in time to save themselves.

Not a single Republican Senator or Congressperson has consistently voted to keep the ACA. And it is in fact State legislatures that are responsible for getting the case against the ACA to the Supreme Court. We showed them in 2017 and 2018, and it’s time to do it again, by voting every single Republican member of Congress out and turning state legislatures blue. Visit www.iwillvote.com to get info on your voting options.

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