Portside

The rights of women to terminate their pregnancies and to receive free contraceptives under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are on the chopping block.

"We need to move ahead from the ACA to a single-payer, Medicare for All system that assures first-dollar coverage for everyone."

At issue was whether the health law’s insurance mandate still compelled people to buy coverage after Congress reduced the penalty to zero dollars as part of the tax overhaul that President Trump signed last December.

Democratic candidates have exposed the outlandish lies by Trump and numerous Republicans pretending to defend the sick. But the inconvenient truth is that even with the ACA insurance companies have found numerous ways to skirt the law.

It’s no secret that the American Health Care Act is unpopular. In recent national polls, only about 29 percent of Americans support the bill. It is the most unpopular piece of major legislation Congress has considered in decades — even more unloved than TARP (“the bailout”), and much more unpopular than the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

By rushing this bill through Congress, Republicans are creating a manufactured crisis that will devastate millions of families. GOP Trumpcare plan is a disaster. It would take away health care from millions of people, cost thousands more for middle-class and low-income Americans, and strip protections from people with pre-existing conditions, all to give a massive tax break to insurance company CEOs and the wealthiest Americans.

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Activism matters. And political morale changes quickly.

Is Paul Ryan's desire to snatch coverage from millions so he can give an enormous tax break to wealthy people utterly monstrous? Absolutely. But if nothing else, Ryan isn't trying to convince us he believes something he doesn't. Strip away the complex politics involved and it becomes evident that Republican proposals are based upon the belief that, as Ayn Rand preached, the government has no obligation to help anyone.

I'm one of the millions who could lose access to health care if Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Act.