Affordable Care Act improves health coverage

Echo opinion- "Dear Editor" of The Sentinel a newspaper published in Carlisle Pennsylvania:

As a recent college graduate, I am following the on-going health care debate very closely. Any major changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could have a tremendous impact on me and thousands of other young adults in Pennsylvania.

I am able to remain on my parents’ insurance plan as a result of the ACA provision that allows young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turn 26. According to the state Insurance Department, 89,000 Pennsylvanians benefit from this provision right now.

I am not an expert in politics or in health care, but any efforts to repeal the ACA seems reckless. Some Republicans continue to push plans to repeal the law entirely. But their plans for replacing the law raise more questions than answers.

Their goal does not appear to be to expand access to healthcare for anyone — young adults, senior citizens or other Pennsylvanians who would still not have insurance, if not for the ACA.

From the other side of the spectrum, some progressives want to repeal the ACA and implement a entirely new, single-payer system that would cover all Americans. Again, this approach raises more questions than answers, starting with how much would this system cost?

The goal should be to build on what is working. The PA Insurance Department reports that almost 1.1 million Pennsylvanians have health coverage because of the ACA. 

To me, that seems like a good foundation to start from.

Corey Lyden, Dillsburg Pennsylvania