Dear Editor:

One must wonder at the audacity and cruelty of the politics of the modern age where the disabled, seniors, and poor families with children are made the sacrificial lambs in the attempted massive upward redistribution of wealth led by leaders in Congress. The recent history of the failed repeal of the Affordable Care Act demonstrated an eager willingness, almost a foaming-at-the-mouth intensity of Republicans in Congress to opportunistically use the platform of repealing the ACA as a cudgel to pound through massive tax breaks for the wealthy and rich corporations. Apparently of little or no concern were the consequences for the more than 20 million people estimated to lose health care coverage. (According to sources such as the American Journal of Public Health, nearly 44,000 people per year could die for lack of health care coverage.)

Having been blunted from their immediate goal of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, Republicans in Congress are at it again. Just as they attempted with their proposed repeal of the ACA — where they decided that Americans should pay more for less health care so that the rich may pay less in taxes — this time they are gutting key protections in Medicaid by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years for much the same reasons.

Sacrificing the needs of the most vulnerable to subsidize the very wealthy is the politics of cruelty and the consequences are not limited to those directly impacted. The gutting of Medicaid also puts more strain on our communities and those of us who care for aging loved ones and people with disabilities. The lost funding will have ripple effects throughout state economies, affecting hospitals, other healthcare providers, and small businesses like mine. Right now we need more investment and stability in our communities, not less.

Alex Jackimovicz

Jackimovicz Electric

Boothbay