To the editor:

Finally! At age 60, after more than three years of NO health insurance, one year of being unemployed, two years of part-time work without benefits (but I love my job), and having just barely achieved an annual income of 100 percent of the federal poverty level; I finally have health insurance again.

I would have been tickled if Gov. Brownback would have expanded Medicaid. But, sadly, never have I been so overjoyed to be so poor. For about $60 per month, I qualify for a plan with a $250 annual deductible and a $500-per-year maximum out-of-pocket expense limit. (Silver plans have the additional feature of subsidized cost-sharing expenses if you qualify.) And colonoscopies and mammograms are FREE for everyone! This must be what it feels like to win the lottery. Oh, wait, I just did win the lottery. The Affordable Care Act lottery. And isn’t that just a pitiful way to look at it?

“Shameful” is not a strong enough adjective to describe the actions of our governor and congressional representatives. Gov. Brownback refused to expand Medicaid, yet would not accept federal money to set up an insurance exchange at the state level. Kansas’ all-Republican congressional delegation continuously opposed the Affordable Care Act and supported all efforts to repeal it, including shutting down the federal government for 16 days (all while collecting their $174,000 annual salary).

When our governor and congressional representatives play politics with people’s lives, yet claim to follow Jesus, it’s time for them to get kicked out of their “temples.”