Letter to the Editor: LaMalfa’s feeble response on healthcare

I was really disappointed with what Rep. LaMalfa said about healthcare coverage during a Zoom town hall meeting a couple of weeks ago. When asked about the Republican effort to once again allow insurance companies to punish those of us with pre-existing conditions, he could only say that congress was working on creating a high risk group … a feeble answer with no specifics whatsoever. When previously asked about healthcare at a town hall in 2018, LaMalfa again gave no credible answers, only to mumble “repeal and replace” a couple of times. True story: I was there.

CA-01 is a district surviving on small business owners and their employees, and therefore does not often enjoy the healthcare benefits offered by large companies. LaMalfa with his primo free healthcare that he keeps for life, has no idea what the average joe has to deal with. Before the ACA, while self-employed, I was punished for my one pre-existing condition. I had inherited a high cholesterol, which dropped to the normal range once treated with medication. For a now normal cholesterol, which effectively should have dropped me out of the high risk group, my insurance was bumped up to $1150 a month with a $6500 deductible. Allowing insurance companies to get away with this is criminal. Allowing congressional leaders to give lip service to our questions, thereby cagily ignoring our needs, is equally as bad.

Robbin Anderson

Portola, CA