Letters: Hideg ignores flaws

Regarding Dr. Alisa Hideg’s column of Dec. 24 (“Politics aside, examine positives of ACA”): Hideg praises the Affordable Care Act for its ends while conveniently omitting the very troublesome facts by which it was enacted and is implemented. Indeed, the devil is in the details, and there is no ignoring the politics behind it.

Passed along strictly partisan lines by dubious means (reconciliation, anyone?), irresponsibly unread by some of its more vocal legislative proponents and infamously misrepresented by none other than our president (whose lies even many “progressives” have reluctantly acknowledged), it is neither a product of consensus, transparency nor honesty.

To fund the ACA, the government has instituted a Ponzi scheme that dwarfs that which sent Bernie Madoff to prison. Hideg fails to acknowledge that federally mandated subsidization of medical care constitutes a theft from current and future generations. Her myopia may be expedient today but will be ruinous tomorrow.

I have no doubt that Hideg’s heart is in the right place. Unfortunately, her brain isn’t keeping it company. Moral compromise is hardly a thoughtful solution.

William Bennett

Mead