While realizing that letters to the editor are intended to be the opinion of the writer, I believe that opinions are and should be based on reality. But today, there are dueling realities on a subject that is truly life-threatening. The current administration says that in reality the new health care bill passed by the House of Representatives last week makes things better for us. The American Association of Retired People (AARP ) says it does exactly the opposite.
Last week the nation’s largest advocate for senior health came out with a scathing assessment of the House health care legislation. The May 5 AARP news release states that the bill puts “an Age Tax” on people as they grow older, making the price of health insurance higher with every birthday. Also, the AARP reports that 25 million older adults with pre-existing conditions such as cancer and diabetes will either be unable to find or afford health care.
There’s more: Digging deeper into the bill, the AARP finds that protections for those of us with pre-existing conditions lose protections, that Medicare’s life is cut short, that the help now in place that enable seniors to live independently is eliminated or drastically cut and that insurance and drug companies make more money than they do now.
I choose to believe what the AARP says about this. Because my life depends on it. And, even if you are not a 73-year-old cancer survivor with depression, arthritis and the dogged determination to continue living independently, so does yours.
Vicki Biggs-Anderson
Colvill
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