Repealing Obamacare could affect King County battle against mumps

Emily Kight told she'd been without health insurance for about a year until Washington State offered it under the Affordable Care Act in late 2013.

“The Affordable Care Act definitely saved my life,” she said

That’s because she could afford to go to the doctor, when she discovered what turned out to be rare cancer-like breast tumor.

“Had it not been for the Affordable Care Act I would have ignored my problem, I would not have gone to see the doctor, and with as aggressive as these tumors can be it might have been too late for me.

In one the first acts of his presidency on Friday, Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin dismantling ACA.

King County Executive Dow Constantine says repealing the ACA means 200,000 people in King County will lose their health insurance.

“It was a move based on emotion, not on evidence, not thinking of the consequences,” Constantine said.

And surprisingly those consequences include efforts to control the recent outbreak of mumps. It turns out the ACA pays for the childhood vaccines sent to doctor's offices.

“You're looking at the loss of a major portion of the immunization program that covers all children in this country.

Today Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Bill Cassidy proposed giving states the choice of keeping Obamacare if they want to.

Would that work for Washington state and King County?

“I don't know the answer to that question,” said Constantine. That’s because he doesn’t know whether the federal government will also spend the money necessary to operate the program.

Paul Guppy of the Washington Policy Center believes Constantine and his team are exaggerating the impact of repealing Obamacare. And he said they didn’t seem to be concerned about the disruption caused when the ACA was first implemented.

Cox Media Group