This is in response to the letter from Gail Eveland (Feb. 2) about the Affordable Care Act.

From her letter, I gather that she does not have many prescriptions. If she did, she would be praising the law. Until 2011, people on Medicare who required many drugs had to pay over $4,550 out of pocket. That is more than $9,100 per couple (the doughnut hole). People on fixed incomes cannot afford that. The new law is cutting the doughnut hole in half this year, eventually eliminating it in a few more years.

A few weeks ago, I was in Washington, D.C., to testify in front of a House subcommittee about the benefits of the health care reform law. Also testifying were other beneficiaries of the law.

There was a 15-year breast cancer survivor who has been denied insurance over and over again and has lived in fear of her cancer returning. The new patients’ rights will ensure that she cannot be turned down for insurance.

Another mother of twins lost her home and business in order to pay for the cancer treatments that her twins needed. Now she can insure her twins.

Claudette Therriault, Sabattus