Health reform is here — now let’s get to work | LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Published 11:05 am Sunday, July 12, 2015

To the editor:

Recently, the Supreme Court rejected yet another attack on the Affordable Care Act. The court’s decision is good news for everyone in Washington and across the country, upholding affordable health insurance for millions.

But we should also take this lawsuit as a reminder that transforming our health care system is a project still in the making. As far as we’ve come, lots of work remains.

As a physician who treats low-income patients, I am pleased to see that many of them now have programs and insurance plans that cover their care.

For all of us, we must protect the gains of the ACA, such as more people having healthcare, the ability of children to remain on their parents’ plans until they are 26, and preexisting conditions being covered.

But we must also build on those gains here in Washington to ensure we have a health care system in which no one is left out and patients are free of the fear of falling into medical debt. I’m part of the Health Care is a Human Right campaign (healthcareisarightwa.org), a multi-year, grassroots effort to bring a truly universal health care system (known as single-payer or an improved Medicare-for-all) to Washington. Such systems are well-established in almost all developed countries where every resident is covered with lower costs and often better health outcomes than in the United States.

Health reform is here to stay, and that’s great news for all of us. Now, let’s get to the work of realizing its full promise.

PETER LUCAS

Bainbridge island