Letter: GOP refused to provide input into ACA

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

During Monday's Doug Wright show on KSL, Utah's senior senator, Orrin Hatch, spoke about how the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is an absolute and complete disaster for the American people. It seemed Hatch was blithely proud as he informed Wright that the reason no single Republican voted for it was because it was so bad for the country.

I call bull on that reasoning!

Oh, I had hoped, in my naiveté, that Congress had really come together and finally allowed the country to move forward. But no, partisanship wars have resumed.

I know that any independent political observer could review the complete process of the Affordable Care Act from inception to presidential signature, and would clearly see that time and again, the Democratic Party's legislators repeatedly asked for helpful Republican input. But the then Republican political leaders demanded complete party unity in refusing to help or work alongside President Barack Obama.

I take offense at Sen. Hatch's complaint that he didn't have input into the Affordable Care Act, and his continuing insistence on singing the praises of his tea party colleagues.

Richard Egan

Salt Lake City