Letter to the Editor: Challenge to Walden

To the editor:

An open letter to Congressman Walden: Mr. Walden, your reported praise of the president's new executive order to relax penalties and reduce enforcement of the Affordable Care Act's provisions is ill-advised at best. In the gorge, including your hometown of Hood River, thousands may lose essential access to health insurance coverage, hence to needed care, if the ACA's fundamentals, including the individual mandate, are removed or collapse. Moreover, your reported support of reversing Medicaid expansion, children's health insurance, and other programs vital to the health of your constituents and neighbors, if true, would be a tragedy and embarrassment to our district.