Free Press readers Published 12:06 a.m. ET July 22, 2017

As citizens, we are not truly free if we do not have realistic access to good health care, one Free Press reader wrote.(Photo: TNS)

Free Press readers share their opinions on the health care reform debate in Washington:

Our national anthem ends with the words land of the free and home of the brave. As citizens, we are not truly free if we do not have realistic access to good health care. Republicans, pushing for the repeal and replacement of the ACA, and now just the repeal, are selling the warped notion that freedom is the right to choose to not have insurance, or to have a junk insurance policy. I doubt this freedom is ever chosen by those with financial means.

This version of freedom is packaged and sold to less affluent Americans because, for many of them, obtaining health care currently requires hard choices. Our countrys version of freedom should not be that we allow vulnerable citizens the choice to meet other essential needs while they forgo health insurance and gamble that they will not become sick. For this wealthy, bountiful country, freedom should be something more noble than that.

Freedom should be the ability to choose to leave your current job and start a new business, knowing that you can buy health insurance, and that pre-existing conditions will not affect your ability to obtain or keep that insurance. Freedom is saving and planning for retirement and not worrying that you will lose all of that hard-earned retirement savings should you become ill or have an accident. Freedom is retiring when you want, without having to wait until age 65 when you will be eligible for Medicare. Freedom is not worrying about how you will pay for doctors visits, hospital visits, a childs birth, medicines, or expensive lifesaving treatments. Shouldnt we want these freedoms for all Americans?

If the Republicans repeal the ACA or fail to work with Democrats to fix the ACA, many Americans will be denied the essential freedom to live healthy lives without fear of whether they can pay for it.

Lauren Lisi

Huntington Woods

People forget or never realized how long it took to get a health care plan for all Americans. Finally came the Affordable Care Act. It works to a large degree but has weaknesses. Those problems could have been overcome without so many wasted months if the GOP accepted the ACA and worked to make it a success. Of course, that would mean working for the benefit of the American people rather than the party.

Ron DePentu

Canton

The Republicans had seven years to come up with their version of a health care plan they chose to spend it on meaningless repeal votes on the Affordable Care Act. When it came time to deliver their plan, after claiming for years that they had all the answers, a chosen few went behind closed doors and threw something together in a few short weeks and their own party couldnt support it.

One of the most disturbing things that has come out of all of this is that Mitch McConnell threatened the recalcitrant senators by vowing to work with the Democrats to get a bipartisan agreement if the Republicans didnt fall in line. Well, heaven forbid! Work together for the common good of the American people? Thats something that the Senate on both sides of the aisle seems to have forgotten is their purpose.

Lenore S. Litwin

South Lyon

There is an answer to the health care/health care insurance problem in this country. All federal employees starting with the president down should be on the same plan as citizens. All state employees from the governors down should be on the same plan as citizens. Once that is accomplished I think that federal and state governments will very quickly come up with an excellent health plan for all of American citizens.

M. Chudnov

Farmington Hills

Wouldnt it be something if Congress rallied around Sen. John McCain, and came together to reach a consensus for a health care bill. They certainly have not felt compelled to rally around the people they represent.

Ron Ustruck

Davisburg

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There is freedom in good health insurance for all - Detroit Free Press