Retired Iowa teacher has popular response to congressman over Republican health-care bill

Barbara Rank

Republican leaders have been holding town halls to explain why they voted in favor of the health-care bill, Avi Selk reports for The Washington Post.

When Rep. Rod Blum (R-Iowa) defended his vote at a town hall in Dubuque, Iowa by saying, “Get rid of some of these crazy regulations that Obamacare puts in, such as a 62-year-old male having to have pregnancy insurance,” it drew the ire of one woman in attendance, who wrote a succinct response in 107 words in a letter to the editor of her local newspaper, the Telegraph Herald.

The letter, written by retired special education teacher Barbara Rank of Dubuque, Iowa, has gone viral. Here is her letter:

Congressman Rod Blum in a Dubuque town hall (Monday) night asked, "Why should a 62-year-old man have to pay for maternity care?”
I ask, why should I pay for a bridge I don’t cross, a sidewalk I don’t walk on, a library book I don’t read? Why should I pay for a flower I won’t smell, a park I don’t visit, or art I can’t appreciate?
Why should I pay the salaries of politicians I didn’t vote for, a tax cut that doesn’t affect me, or a loophole I can’t take advantage of?
It’s called democracy, a civil society, the greater good. That’s what we pay for.