From my facebook - "Dear Senator Cornyn"
Not my words------
"Below is the letter I sent to John Cornyn, a very similar one is going to my Rep John Carter... The way the Republican Party is handling the ACA is reprehensible.
Dear Senator Cornyn,
I am a Texan, and I live with my wife and son in Jollyville, Texas (Williamson County). I am a registered Republican and an active and engaged voter. I can no longer stand on the sidelines without commenting on your behavior.
I am dismayed and concerned with the cavalier manner that you and your fellow Republican Senators are dismantling the Affordable Care Act. Rushing pell mell to repeal the ACA with no alternative plan in place is dangerously irresponsible.
It seems clear to me that you and your fellow Republican Senators are proceeding in this fashion simply out of spite. Petulance in a 16-year-old teenager is annoying, but for leaders of a major political party it is unacceptable. Please keep in mind that we are a deeply divided country right now, and the most recent elections were very close. The president elect did not win the popular vote, and in the swing states where he did win, the margins of his victory were razor thin. This kind of victory is not a massive mandate to run hog wild over a large percentage of our population simply because you are diametrically opposed to them ideologically. Throwing more then Twenty million people off of insurance with no alternative mechanism in place, simply because you can, is abhorrent.
What drives this churlish behavior? Is it because you are so divorced from the day to day realities of normal Americans that you do not understand the ramification of your actions? Do you have any understanding of what it is like to be without health insurance in today's America? Do you have any idea of how hard it is to buy insurance in the free market if you do not get coverage from an employer? Do you have any idea how hard it was to get coverage with a pre-existing condition before the ACA became the law of the land? Do you have any idea how miserable it was to be the parent of a special needs child, desperate to get your child covered with insurer after insurer dismissing you before the ACA passed? Your actions this week tell me you don't.
Maybe you need to see a human face on the issue, if so, I will gladly give you mine. My family relies upon the ACA for health insurance. Without the ACA three years ago, we had very poor coverage at a very high rate for me and my wife. We were both self employed and as such, we had no power with which to purchase group coverage. In addition to that, our son, who is Autistic, could only get coverage through the State of Texas' high risk plan. Imagine paying $500 a month for what amounted to no more than catastrophic coverage. $500 a month! For a healthy and vibrant 6 year old boy! On top of that we paid out of pocket for every single ABA and OT therapy session. When the ACA marketplace came along, everything changed. We were able to purchase great coverage at reasonable price that changed how we were able to access health care for our entire family. I think it is important to note here that we did not qualify for any kind of subsidy; we paid full retail with no government help, and we were glad to do so. Just being able to buy reasonable coverage at a reasonable rate was a huge breakthrough! We saved close to $200 a month buying our insurance through the Federal exchange.
It is now 2017 and I am no longer self employed, I get coverage through my employer, and I am able to purchase great coverage for my son through my employers plan. However the cost of insuring my wife on that same plan is $820.00 a month! (For a 46 year old woman! Sorry honey!) Since she is self employed, we still buy her coverage through the Federal marketplace, as it is basically our only option. Her coverage this year has jumped to $400 a month, still an outrageous amount, but less than 50% of what is available to us outside of the ACA.
Senator Cornyn, I don't have a spare $400 a month lying around to spend on more expensive coverage. Frankly, I don't have any friends or colleagues that do. Yet you and your cohorts appear poised to reach into our family coffers and rip that money away from us.
If you want honest feedback about what is wrong with the ACA, feel free to contact me; I have plenty things I want fixed with the law. You and I should have acres and acres of common ground on this issue. But you don't seem to be interested any narrative but your own.
Repealing the ACA with no clear alternative in place is a fools journey. One undertaken out of arrogance and with no regard for many of your constituents.
The sad thing is, I know you will never see this, and I know you don't actually care. Some random intern or staffer will log this email in and generate a meaningless and degrading form letter which I will receive in about 10 days.
But, I can exercise my right to vote, and I can engage my fellow voters and my community about your behavior. Enough is enough. You have not earned my vote, and I will work actively to end your time as our Senator."
Sincerely,
Eric Frankhouser.
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