To the editor:

As an agriculturalist who works to advance the interests of farmers and their communities, I know that securing affordable health care is a major concern for rural families. We currently have a solid health care system thanks to Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.

I am a cancer survivor. Under the ACA, I am now protected from losing coverage because of this pre-existing condition. Additionally, my daughter was flown to the hospital as a newborn because of seizure syndrome and incurred significant medical costs. Thanks to the ACA, we no longer need to worry about a lifetime cost limit in our health plan and she can keep this coverage until she turns 26.

I opposed efforts over the last several years to “repeal and replace” the ACA. I am concerned about the budget proposal which would slash Medicare by more than half a trillion dollars and cutback Medicaid and ACA subsidies for working families. I worry too about repealing the ACA and replacing it with a government-run program that would limit the choice of coverage for all Americans.

It is essential for families, farming and not, to have the peace of mind that health care security brings. So, let’s protect and improve the ACA, Medicare, and Medicaid, and not undo them for a single payer governmental program. I urge our officials to fix what needs fixing and not, to use my mother’s old saying, “throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

MeeCee Baker, Ph.D.

Port Royal