LABRADOR: Just be honest

I found Senator Labrador’s mistruths frustrating at the town hall meeting on May 5 at Lake City High School. He incorrectly said that the Congressional Budget Office numbers had been out when he voted for the American Health Care Act. With this, he implied that he had voted knowing this bill’s medical and financial consequences to Idahoans. No numbers had yet been released. He repeatedly insisted the persons with pre-existing conditions would be able to obtain affordable insurance under this bill. With the Congressional Budget Office numbers now out, we now know this assumption was untrue.

I can respect a fiscal conservative who believes in limited government, even though I do not hold this position. But I do not respect repeated dishonesty, even if genuinely delivered. With the American Health Care Act, more Idahoans will slide into poverty due to unaffordable health care; more will die. Let’s make the Affordable Health Care Act more affordable and put fewer Idahoans’ lives at risk.

ELIZABETH MATHES

Coeur d’Alene