Union-Bulletin

One can hear the drumbeat of "tax increase" already. Everyone seems ignorant of the fact that the Affordable Care Act will not raise taxes on anyone who has medical insurance, and anyone who does not file a tax return, e.g., children who earn nothing.

The only people who will see a tax increase are the "free riders" who use the ER for basic medical care. As mentioned previously, the American Heritage Foundation (a somewhat conservative group) noted years ago that those who are free riders impose a hidden cost on all of us who have medical insurance and who pay taxes. ER service is not free, so someone is paying for it. Guess who that might be.

And finally, the government is telling us we must buy medical insurance from insurance companies. What a boon for those paragons of virtue and free enterprise. Government will not interfere in any way with the medical care; the insurance companies already do that job quite well, thank you.

So please stop calling the ACA by the phrase "Obamacare." Please stop inferring governmental interference in medical care when it is already the job of the insurance companies to do that, and please think about the hidden costs of medical care we already bear that will cease being hidden.

Finally, those who claim our country is Christian should read the Sermon on the Mount and note it is written quite clearly there that caring for those less fortunate than us is part of Christianity. Greed is not Christian.

Dick Swenson

Walla Walla