7 msfocusmagazine.org Well into the 20th century, old age and chronic poverty went hand-in-hand for an overwhelming percentage of elderlyAmericans no longer able to earn a living. This problem was exacerbated by the Great Depression. Social Security was proposed to remedy this situation by providing a source of minimum income to this growing demographic. This led to a fierce debate in Congress. It was labeled as a threat to liberty, economic recovery, and employers’ efforts to provide jobs. Years later, before entering politics, Ronald Reagan would describe the proposed Medicare program as follows: "If Medicare passes into law, the consequences will be dire beyond imagining…. One of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children…, what it once was like in America when men were free." Do you see a familiar pattern? Fortunately for the American people, a sufficient number of legislators with vision and an understanding of what is in the best long-term interests of their constituents pressed forward to make both Social Security and Medicare the law of the land. Through the years, most Americans have become quite adamantly in favor of maintaining those vital programs. Presently, the healthcare debate rages on. Even its most ardent supporters acknowledge the ACA is neither perfect nor final, and periodically will require fine tuning as conditions dictate. We have seen this done with Social Security, Medicare, and, yes, even our Constitution (via amendments). Yet, there are those who will be relentless in their goal of undoing the ACA. As with the early critics of Social Security and Medicare, we’ll continue to hear about the “threat to freedom and the American way”, etc. If we were to allow those in opposition to the ACA (or even the lesser protections of the ACHA) to have their way, would we then expand our rights and freedoms to include the right to be ill, and the right to be unable to obtain adequate health coverage? We think not! This is not a libertarian issue, for if it were, protests would have ensued years ago against mandates to purchase automobile insurance, as an example. Generally speaking, the basic tenet of insurance is that the paid premiums of policyholders with a low likelihood of filing a claim generate the revenue necessary to fund the claims of higher risk policyholders. Typically, our medical expenses increase as we age. Thus, the ACA’s requirement for younger adults to be covered as well could be likened to the requirement for young adults to pay into Social Security and Medicare. It may not benefit them today, but pays forward the benefit they will receive in the future. Broad access to comprehensive healthcare for all Americans is a key component of a strong nation and will put us squarely on the right side of history. Rhetoric, cutbacks of essential programs, and extreme partisanship serve as obstructions and detours hindering our journey on the road to becoming an even greater nation.