Dear Mr. or Ms. President,

My name is Hannah, I am a resident of Westport, Connecticut, and I am writing to you because I feel very strongly about the exponentially increasing cost of health care in the United States of America. As of 2015, the average cost of health insurance premiums have gone up 61% since 2005 and 27% since 2010 (Kaiser Family Foundation 2015). Since the establishment of the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, in March of 2010, costs of premiums, deductibles, copays, and prescription drugs have gone up rapidly. Without the crucial support from the future commander in chief, the price of health care services will become unbearable and the Affordable Care Act will not live up to it’s name, hence the “affordable” part of the law.

Since ObamaCare was passed in 2010, it’s has had its pros and cons. The Act requires every US citizen to purchase insurance each year, which was beneficial because it granted health care access to almost 20 million people in the first five years. However, the fee for not buying insurance was bumped up as well, with the cost being an average of nearly $700 for every month without insurance. In a recent article, released just weeks before the election, the US government claimed that “premiums for midlevel health plans under the Affordable Care Act will increase by an average of 25 percent next year, while consumers in some states will find significantly fewer insurance companies offering coverage” (NY Times). This is problematic because given that rates have only been expanding, there will come a time when the Affordable Care Act is proven unaffordable, and I believe that time may be in the near future.

Mr. Donald J. Trump has had a clear, set in stone idea of what health care will become if he is elected President. During the Presidential debate on October 9th, 2016, Mr. Trump said, “ObamaCare is a total disaster, and not only are your rates going up by numbers nobody’s ever believed, but your deductibles are going up so unless you get hit by a truck, you’re never going to be able to use it.” (Vox.com) In short, the plan Mr. Trump has is to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with Health Savings Accounts because he strongly believes that “none of these positive reforms can be accomplished without ObamaCare repeal” (Trump HealthCare Reform). Trump knows he can create a quality, affordable and choice promoted health care system that works with and around the citizens of the United States of America.

On the other end of the spectrum, Mrs. Hillary Clinton has a completely different view on how to provide affordable health insurance to American citizens. She wants to defend the Affordable Care Act but expand it by bringing costs down and granting insurance access to immigrants as well as rural Americans. Also during the second Presidential debate on October 9th, Secretary Clinton said, “So I want very much to save what works and is good about the Affordable Care Act, but we’ve got to get costs down” (Vox.com). Mrs. Clinton has chosen to take a very different path than Mr. Trump has and will work to create a ‘new and improved’ health care plan in the nation. She is confident that this is the best way to go to ensure that every American gets the affordable health care that they deserve.

The United States spends an average of 17.1% of its GDP on health care, almost 50 percent more than the next highest spender (France, 11.6% of GDP) and nearly double of what the UK spends (8.8%) (The Commonwealth Fund). There are thousands of reasons why the Affordable Care Act needs to be improved and the only way to ensure future economic benefit is for you to take initiative and help provide a better life for the American citizens. As one of the most powerful positions one can take in this nation, whoever it may be, it is crucial for you to take action immediately and address this issue in full force. The incredible prices of healthcare in the United States have caused a great amount of economic hardship within American families and it is your responsibility to create a healthy nation for the rest of time.

Regards,

Hannah