At the end of 2014, my husband faced retirement after a 45-year professional career. I would lose his employer-provided health insurance coverage at that time, so in December, I went to the Healthcare.gov site and enrolled in a plan. My husband, with a Medicare plan, and I will now be paying less for health insurance than what we had been through his employer-provided plan.

The Affordable Care Act faces ongoing and undeserved attacks by pundits and politicians. Recent studies show the ACA benefits are substantial — individuals are taking better care of themselves, seeing primary care physicians more regularly, and avoiding costly emergency room visits.

Unfortunately, the hope to cover those not income-eligible for ACA plans by expanding Medicaid was compromised when Gov. LePage refused to expand MaineCare. Instead, he rejected millions of dollars of federal funding, and denied tens of thousands of Mainers their right to become healthier, more productive people.

The governor tried to derail the ACA too, by refusing to plan and set up an in-state health care exchange.

My husband and I were fortunate that a Maine agency had the vision, along with federal grants and loans, to work with Healthcare.gov and set up the cooperative.

Susann Pelletier, Lewiston

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