The verdict on the Republican plan to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act is out. The Congressional Budget Office agrees with the Kaiser Family Foundation and other nonpartisan public health analyses that the Republican plan would cause millions of Americans, and tens of thousands of Mainers, to lose health insurance in its very first year. Premature deaths among Mainers would number in the hundreds, if not more.

The groups destined to suffer are the working poor, especially older and rural populations — in other words, voters in Maine’s Second Congressional District.

Meanwhile, the richest Americans, few of whom live in the Second District, will enjoy a tax cut. That raises the question: Is Rep. Bruce Poliquin willing to increase the suffering and shorten the lives of Maine working people in order to preserve the bank accounts of his out-of-state campaign contributors — and his own?

So far, the answer seems to be yes.

I hope, in the time that remains, he remembers his Maine constituents, and votes no.

James Richter, Lewiston