Local residents react to Supreme Court decision

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Among western Kentuckians polled late last year, only one in four said they had enough information about the Affordable Care Act to understand how it would affect them personally.

But a much larger ratio had opinions about the law.

Forty percent said they had a “generally unfavorable” opinion of the law, and 34 percent had a “generally favorable” opinion, according to the Kentucky Health Issues Poll. The remaining 26 percent expressed no opinion.

Carter Hendricks, president of the Christian County Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber has not surveyed its members about their opinions. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has expressed concern that the law will stifle job growth, Hendricks said.

Businesses with more than 50 employees will soon have a federal requirement to provide insurance benefits for their employees. This requirement could discourage small businesses from expanding beyond 50 employees, Hendricks said.

Several people in downtown Hopkinsville spoke out on the law Thursday afternoon.

• Gary Young: “The part that I don’t like is the requirement of the employer to pay for the employees’ health insurance … I like the idea of everybody having health care. But when it becomes a penalty to the small businesses, I think it’s wrong.”
• John Heisler: “I’m opposed to it. I don’t want the government controlling one-sixth of the economy … We’re becoming more communistic, more liberalistic, and I can’t wait until Obama gets out of there.”
• Joseph Gilkey: “It will bring in the mark of the beast. You’ll need a chip to be part of it … You can’t even buy or sell nothing unless you’ve got that mark.”
• Manuel Wilson: “Let me get (insurance) when I want to get it. Don’t force me to have to get it … They didn’t think through that too clear. They didn’t do the math very well.”
• Craig Angel: “I don’t know what we need to do, but the fact that so many bankruptcies are caused by health and medical issues is obscene … I don’t know why it’s not handled the same way as Social Security — you pay in, and the health care’s free.”