The biggest impact to former President Obamas’ Obamacare, happened recently when the Republicans under the U.S. Senate had finalized their repeal of the requirement that all Americans obtain health insurance.

For those who don’t know or understand what this act does and entitles, Obamacare, or the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, is the federal law intended to improve access to health insurance for all US citizens. Its main focus is to provide more Americans with affordable health insurance, while also reducing the spending on health care in the US. President Obama made this act in order to do important things such as: offer Americans protections and rights regarding healthcare, expanding Medicare to all adults, and improving it for seniors.

As Republican lawmakers tried and failed, several times this year, to scrape the mandate for this repeal, experts say that this repeal will lead to millions of people losing their coverage. Some of which could be our own, Falls Church High’s students. Losing coverage puts many at risks that they didn’t have to worry about before. Not only does it affect those with Obamacare, but it affects just about everyone. For example, senior citizens don’t get to pay the smaller amount on Medicare or prescription drugs. And students from all over could be at risk of losing health insurance.

On another side of this debacle, many believe that this repeal is a good idea. You could say, many pros of this repeal is the fact that it will cut down of government spending. Originally Obamacare created more than $1.9 trillion in new health care spending, which means Medicaid will cost more that over the next decade. Along with that, the Obamacare contains eighteen separate taxes, fees, and penalties. Those combined cost more than $770 billion in new federal government revenue from 2013 to 2022.

Whether you support Obamacare or not, it’s important to remember all the benefits of the repeal, and actually keeping it. It’s also important to keep a general, unbiased opinion, as to not cause conflicts with others struggling with it, or others with strong opinions on the matter. We all, in some shape or form, are affected by this repeal. Our opinions are valid and of some worth, but we shouldn’t strip others of their right at freedom of speech.