Dear Editor:

It's no wonder that Trumpcare could not be passed, at least for the moment in its present form. The attempt was made to legislatively rush Trumpcare through the House in 17 days. Healthcare is a multifaceted complex issue deserving of careful consideration, scrutiny and crafting -- that didn't happen. Even worse, the promise was made that Trumpcare would extend coverage, offer more and cost less and none of that was true. Facts matter more than boisterous rhetoric. A careful count of House votes was also not followed. No wonder it failed.

For the foreseeable future the law of the land is the Affordable Healthcare Act known as Obamacare. We, as a country, own it. Call it whatever we like and legitimately and genuinely get together in a true bipartisan way and hammer out the best health legislation we can. Help to those that really need help without having it be seen as a giveaway program and breaking the bank. A solid, well-negotiated healthcare approach for the people.

Playing the blame game to assign whose fault it was that Trumpcare didn't pass the House seems pointless. Some might want to blame Paul Ryan for not herding Trumpcare through the House in only 17 days. Healthcare is complicated and negotiations with fellow House members was not begun in earnest from the outset. For now Ryan's Speaker of the House position is probably secure because "nobody particularly wants to be Henry the XIII's next wife."

One thing is for certain -- vilification is not the answer. It never is. Obamacare was vilified and hammered relentlessly, not looking at how it might be fixed. Major complex programs always need amendments to improve their performance to make them work.

We need to create and support positive approaches for issues and programs rather than negative approaches against.

Jerry Topinka

Boothbay Harbor