This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

For all parents and anyone with serious (or potential) health problems:

Replacing Obamacare with Trumpcare may sound like a triumph to some, but to mothers and fathers with children at risk — or, for that matter, a spouse or sibling — and for all those people out there in our towns and cities living alone whose very lives often depend on health care benefits and who are terrified of losing them, what Congress just did is no triumph. It's a reason for national sorrow. And national shame.

I am the mother of a son, age 34, whose life will be changed utterly, perhaps destroyed, by this legislation. He has brain damage and an intractable seizure condition. He has had four surgeries, two medical devices implanted and takes nearly a dozen medications to keep him alive, all covered by Medicaid. He also lives a rich and happy life despite all odds, delivering mail in the Salt Lake City Police Department (where he loves the new chief, just as he did our last one), delivering food to families from the Utah Food Bank and delivering books across the valley (along with his caregiver, Ricky) for The King's English Bookshop. Our customers love them both.

Nicks is more courageous than anyone I know. He's full of joy despite the battles he fights. Infectious joy. And he's capable of empathy. Not something that can be said of everyone. Not something that can be said of our congressmen and congresswomen here in Utah who voted for this plan. Because they obviously can't see what is clear to the millions of Americans who fear the results of precisely what they've just done to health care in America. This is no triumph. This is unspeakable cruelty.

The above comes from the heart of a mother. But as a businesswoman I'm sick to death (maybe literally) of hearing people behind this measure characterizing small business as in support of it. In fact, Obamacare has been crucial to helping small business owners like me gain access to more comprehensive and affordable health coverage.

Under the ACA, rates in the small group market are finally starting to stabilize, and many small businesses have been able to receive tax credits for providing coverage. We at The King's English have done so and thus managed to keep our staff covered continuously.

Additionally, the law has helped many would-be entrepreneurs, especially those with pre-existing conditions, break out and start their own business without the fear of being unable to access affordable health coverage. It should come as no surprise that there is in fact not wholesale support for the new plan in the small business community, as is commonly claimed — a fact covered in the May 4 edition of The New York Times. Indeed, polling shows that a majority of small business owners support the ACA, and prefer it to the replacement plan by a 2:1 ratio.

The House's vote shows many lawmakers are ignoring the fact that the ACA isn't just good for small business; it's good for everyone. Pushing forward with a subpar replacement plan is just plain wrong — for our country, for our small business community, for the countless entrepreneurs and employees who have gained coverage under the ACA — and for all those terrified people out there who presently have coverage but wonder whether they will next week, and whether they'll be able to access the treatments that keep their conditions stable, keep them healthy or, for that matter, alive.

The fact is, all of you in Congress who voted for this pernicious and unutterably cruel bill do not speak for small business. And you certainly don't speak for basic humanity. One can only hope that you suffer at the ballot box for the unspeakable suffering you are willfully bringing to millions of people in this country. And that our senators are possessed of a stronger sense of decency — and of morality that "trumps" political expediency.

There are far too few heroes in the political arena who are willing to stand up against colleagues who pressure them to vote in ways that condemn helpless (and now hopeless) people. Far too few willing to vote for what they know to be right, period. None, it would seem in Utah.

For shame.

Betsy Burton is the co-owner of The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City.