Not sold on AHCA

On May 20, I attended a health care event hosted by the staff of Cathy McMorris Rodgers. The event was to be an opportunity for CMR’s constituents to share their legitimate concerns about the recently passed American Health Care Act. Although we were eventually allowed to share our concerns, the first part of the meeting was a hard sell of the plan by a legislative aide of CMR and a retired doctor, Roger Stark, who works for the Washington Policy Center.

It was painful to sit through a sales pitch by people who knew less about the bill than the participants in the event. The Washington Policy Center is a Koch-brothers-supported “nonpartisan” think tank, which promotes American Legislative Exchange Center (ALEC) views. The doctor hasn’t practiced medicine since 2001, but was presented as an expert in the field. The legislative aide couldn’t explain coherently the rush to complete the AHCA in record time, nor the reason for its passage without waiting for a CBO score, and also displayed an appalling ignorance of the circumstances of the original passage of the Affordable Care Act.

The final tally was 14 opposed to zero in favor of. We deserved better.

Greg Presley

Spokane