To the Editor:

Several days ago, NBC’s Chuck Todd made comments that induced discussion about the media’s responsibility to expose advocates’ misstatements about political issues.

Over the past several months, The Times Record has published several OpEds by Edward Tharp, the most recent being Monday, Sept. 30 (“The false promise of Obamacare,” Page A6), purportedly about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

While the piece contains ad hominem attacks on Michael Michaud and numerous assertions about the law, it is devoid of facts to substantiate those allegations.

Perhaps unknown to Mr. Tharp, several of the significant elements of the ACA had their genesis at the formerly conservative, now far-right Heritage Foundation. Rather than his implied government takeover of health insurance, the ACA relies on and accommodates private insurance companies’ expansions of coverage to families and individuals.

He asserts the law will “kill jobs,” with absolutely no objective data to support the claim. And, his writing completely ignores the many positive components of the law, including, but not limited to: establishing minimum standards for all health insurance policies; encouraging state and local governments to experiment with innovations and trial programs to increase efficiency and economies of costs; projected decreases in bad debt and free care which hospitals have had to provide; actual premium levels coming in even lower than previously projected; and insurance companies can no longer impose annual and lifetime caps on coverage or cancel coverage.

The ACA is no more perfect than any other federal or state law or local ordinance, but it is time for the far right to stop mischaracterizing its provisions.

Ervin D. Snyder
Brunswick