My Letter to Senator Mikulski About the ACA and Separation of Powers (Representatives, Congress)

[LoveToRow]

Last year I e-mailed one of my very far left wing Democrat Senators here in Maryland, Barbara Mikulski. The topic was the failed rollout of the Obamacare exchange, and more specifically the debacle surrounding the website in Maryland. It never actually worked, despite spending $200M dollars of state tax money on it.

To Senator Mikulski's credit, she responded. Unfortunately, her response to my e-mail (which I don't have a copy of since it was submitted through her senate.gov website), has too many false statements and is basically a propaganda piece. Here's her letter from last December:

Originally Posted by Barbara Mikulski

Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXXX:

Thank you for getting in touch with me about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the health reform law. It's good to hear from you.

I am just as frustrated as you are about the launch of health reform. I am particularly disappointed that the Exchange website did not operate for Marylanders trying to obtain health insurance. I know a lot of time and effort has gone into improving the Exchange websites and we have seen marginal improvements over the past few weeks. But more must be done. I have been receiving weekly progress reports from the Governor's Office of Health Reform and Maryland's Department of Health. I have also been working with large insurers in our state, as well as the Maryland Health Insurance Commissioner, in order to ensure that further implementation of the law is more consumer-friendly and efficient for Maryland families and businesses. I will continue working with federal and state officials to monitor progress on these websites and ensure that Marylanders can access the insurance they want. In addition, I support the decision to allow Marylanders the option to keep their existing insurance plans for another year.

Despite the problems with the rollout, the Affordable Care Act has already begun to work for millions of Americans and is slowing the growth of health care costs.

The ACA saves and strengthens Medicare, makes sure insurance companies can't discriminate against you because of a pre-existing condition or because of your age or gender, provides universal access to health care, and emphasizes quality, prevention and integrative health to save lives and save money. These are the principles of health reform that I have been committed to and have been fighting for throughout my career.

In Maryland, 141,000 Marylanders received a total of $28 million in rebates in 2012 (an average savings of $340 per family) and Medicare beneficiaries have saved an average of $768 each year through prescription drug discounts. Thanks to health reform, over 2 million Marylanders will be protected from annual and lifetime limits on coverage, and 535,815 young adults ages 26 and younger get to stay on their parents' insurance while they get on their feet. Preventive services, including mammograms, flu shots, certain vaccines, and cancer screenings, are now free for Marylanders. And beginning in 2014, health insurers will no longer be able to charge more or deny coverage to anyone because of a pre-existing condition. This benefits over 2.5 million Marylanders.

I know that parts of the health reform law are complicated and will need to be revisited, but I believe that repeal is not the answer. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), repeal of the Affordable Care Act would increase the federal deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. Repeal would also leave 32 million people without health insurance in 2019; women would be faced with discriminatory insurance premiums; and children could once again be denied coverage for having a pre-existing condition. The cost of health care will continue to be shifted onto individuals and premiums will continue to rise. We cannot let this happen.

Thanks once again for writing. Please let me know if I can be of assistance in the future.

Sincerely,
A
Barbara A. Mikulski
United States Senator

So, I didn't immediately respond to her e-mail, feeling that it would be a waste of time. More importantly, she conceded that changes to the ACA were required, even though she wasn't in support of a full repeal. Fair enough, that's more than I expected from someone as left wing as Senator Mikulski. Anyway, I had forgotten her letter until I was cleaning out my e-mail this morning.

I responded this morning with this:

Dear Senator Mikulski -

It has been one year since you sent me the attached letter, which I thank you for sending. In that letter, you stated that parts of the Affordable Care Act were complicated and needed to be revisited. What have you and/or your party proposed in the past year to change this law, which clearly is failing the American people? I do not believe it is satisfactory for our Senators and Congressional representatives to abdicate their responsibility to pass and amend legislation. This Congress has allowed the President to change the law by decree numerous times with respect to the Affordable Care Act. Congress has also remarkably allowed him to enact new law with regard to illegal immigration. Shockingly, most Democrats in Congress actually support this unprecedented power grab.

When are you and Senate Democrats going to stand up for the legislative branch and assert Congress' rights and responsibilities under the Constitution? If Mr. Obama were a Republican, I have no doubt that you and your Democratic colleagues in the Senate would have done so long ago. Please forget about the (D) after your name and stand up for the institution you were elected to and the people who put you in office. Maryland may be a blue state, but the election of Mr. Hogan and near defeat of Mr. Delaney in the 6th district showed that this blue state is unhappy with the Democrats in Congress.

It would be refreshing to see something other than lockstep loyalty to the Democrat Party from you. Whether the legislative branch should allow the executive branch to take over its powers and duties is something than should transcend political affiliation.

Mr. XXXXXXXXXX

P.S. Do you plan to retire anytime soon? My mother recently retired and she is really enjoying it. Lots of free time to spend with the grandchildren and work in her garden. I bet you would really enjoy retirement as well.

I don't expect this e-mail to have any impact whatsoever on Senator Mikulski, but at least I feel better. I encourage everyone to write their elected representatives regardless of their and your political viewpoint. I think part of the reason government is so unresponsive to what the public wants is that most of the public just isn't engaged. In other words, part of the blame for the things we're unhappy with belongs to us.