If you needed to buy a house, would you let your realtor (your representative in the deal) pick a house, make an offer and sign it without your input? I wouldn’t. But this is exactly what Senate Republicans are doing with our health care.

The Affordable Care Act took more than a year to craft, included 160 GOP amendments, and involved hundreds of meetings, roundtable discussions and public hearings. Voted into law with the two-thirds majority required by a policy bill, it accounted for 20 million people getting insured.

In contrast, the Republicans are writing their bill in secret with zero public input, forcing a vote possibly before seeing a Congressional Budget Office score, and hiding it from the public as long as possible. They’re rushing this health care policy change through Congress as a budget bill requiring a simple majority. It will rip affordable insurance out of the hands of an estimated 23 million people and end the ACA protections required in all insurance policies currently offered in the U.S.

Call your senators every day and demand that they withhold consent on all bills until public hearings on this health care legislation are held. Do not let Senate Republicans decide your future without your input.

Harold Gross

Issaquah