Dear Daily Collegian,

We now enter a government shut down for the first time since 1995. It’s important that people understand why. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives refused to continue to fund the federal government unless the Democrat-controlled Senate repealed the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare. Because the Senate failed to void the act before the fiscal year’s end, the government has shut down.

As a future nurse, I feel that these politicians do not pay mind to how unethical voiding the act would be. If they void the act, then they will ultimately allow insurance companies to once again deny coverage to clients with pre-existing conditions, one issue the Affordable Care Act seeks to correct.

As a student nurse, I witness patients suffer every day from conditions outside of their control. They suffer from diseases such as cancer, HIV, cerebral vascular accidents (strokes) and myocardial infractions (heart attacks). Insurance companies can deny coverage to these patients who need care the most. Without coverage, these patients cannot acquire the rehabilitation they require in order to become functioning members of society again. They suffer from symptoms such as aphasia, hemiplegia and dysphasia, all of which require significant rehabilitation to make the patient become independent again and all of which require insurance coverage to treat.

It is true that the act will cost the American population a significant amount of money, mostly in the form of increased taxes. But, as a human being, I don’t see how we can deny another human being the right to medical treatment. Not only is it morally wrong to do so, but it also allows for a loophole in which insurance companies can increase their profits.

We have taken one step forward with the creation of the Affordable Care Act, but if we allow the same politicians to bully us into submission then we will be taking two steps back.

Respectfully,

Joe Nguyen