Yes, Sen. Susan Collins is fully vested in the swamp we call Washington. Praised as a hero in full-page ads in the Portland Press Herald, on TV and in social media for stopping the repeal and replacement of Obamacare. But why?

Why would anyone protect the disaster called Obamacare around the same time that Maine’s three remaining Obamacare providers argued for raising premiums by anywhere from 20 percent to 40 percent – after similar increases several years running? Yep, creature of the swamp. Bought and paid for by the lobbyists for the health care and insurance industries.

Just check Sen. Collins’ Federal Election Commission campaign finance filings: contributions from political action committees for Aetna, Aflac, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Health Care Association, the American Medical Association … The list is long, and the dollars are in the millions.

It should come as no surprise that Sen. Collins chooses their interests before the Maine people’s interests, and uses the excuse that she can’t support “sweeping reductions in the Medicaid program” because they would affect “low-income seniors” and rural Mainers.

Give me a break! The repeal and replace bill did not reduce Medicaid. It slowed the growth of Medicaid – or, more accurately, the explosion of Medicaid to unsustainable levels.

The people of Maine deserve better than swamp speak, and it’s time to drain the swamp and get rid of the swamp creatures.

Barry Stephens

Buxton