Kay Pence is vice president of the Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans.

I’m a retired union representative for the Communications Workers of America living in rural Eldridge with my husband of 50 years. As a union rep I bargained contracts, and health care was always the biggest issue, especially before the Affordable Care Act became law in 2010.

I’m currently the executive vice president for the Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans, which has 4.4 million members nationwide. I’m extremely concerned about how Donald Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” (the budget reconciliation package) will force people off their insurance and cause problems for providers. I’m especially concerned about insurance rates for everyone who thinks these cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act premium subsidies won’t impact them, since their coverage comes through their employer or private insurance plan.

Kay Pence is vice president of the Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans.

Refusing to raise the debt ceiling is like running up your credit card and punishing yourself by refusing to pay the bill.  It ruins your credit score and costs more in the long run. Raising the debt ceiling does not authorize new spending, it authorizes borrowing to pay bills already incurred. Paying bills are obligations not negotiations.

MAGA Republicans want to use the debt ceiling fight to force cuts in future unnamed programs. What they want to cut isn’t exactly secret; we have seen and rejected, most of their proposals before.