This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Sen. Orrin Hatch ("Scrap Obamacare, embrace free market," Opinion, Feb. 10) will never win an argument against Obamacare by using anecdotal evidence.
Every time he tries, the president can give a million examples why the country needs health care for the poor and working class. Before the Affordable Care Act was passed, many wage earners were one serious accident or illness away from bankruptcy.
Sen. Hatch knows that most Americans do not want to go back to a time when the only help for some was high-cost emergency room care.
I think he is being disingenuous. He knows his so-called Patient Care Act has no chance of passing both houses of Congress and overriding a presidential veto. It would also be rejected by many far-right Republicans.
The Affordable Care Act passed both houses of Congress, was signed by the president, and was confirmed as legal by the Supreme Court. It is the law of the land. However, there is one way Sen. Hatch and his Republican colleagues can "Scrap Obamacare": win both Houses of Congress with a veto-proof Senate, and the presidential election in 2016. That is called democracy.
James W. Cameron
Salt Lake City