To the Editor:

I am a retired medical social worker who spent decades working in acutecare hospitals, including eight years in a trauma emergency department. I know the truth and reality of how poorly our health care system functioned prior to the Affordable Care Act.

Private insurance companies, operated for profit, dictated the care received by those covered by a given policy. Where care was delivered, who cared for the patient and how much care was provided — the amount and duration of service — was determined by the small print in an insurance contract.

Even those individuals and families covered by what they thought was excellent insurance were often shocked by the limitations of their policies when illness or injury struck. Once a medical problem had been diagnosed, changing insurance was difficult and often impossible due to what was now a pre-existing condition.

I worked with many families where the parent whose job covered the children was stuck in that job, as no other insurance company would accept them with a child with special needs that required expensive, ongoing medical care.

All of us would benefit from living in a healthier nation, where preventive care and appropriate care are provided when needed. This would be good economics, as well as being morally sound.

Do not get taken in by right wing distortions and lies. The GOP doesn’t have a viable health care plan; their goal is to destroy the ACA, and return to a profit driven system that fails to provide even minimally adequate care for millions of our fellow citizens. Surely we can do better.

Adair Delamater
Bath