Congressman Mike Kelly, who is eager to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), apparently has no clue how many of his constituents will be affected by this regressive move.

If a congressman’s job is to represent his constituents, then surely he should know who will be affected by his votes, right? Nope. Not on Jan. 9, when I called Kelly’s Butler office and asked about his plan to repeal the ACA, and evidently not as of Jan. 17, because I’m still waiting for the response his office promised me.

In the meantime, I Googled the same question and bingo! The Kaiser Family Foundation (kff.org) had the answer: Kelly has 16,500 constituents who buy their health insurance through the ACA marketplace.

Do those who pay for an ACA plan each month know that their congressman is OK with taking away their access to health care without a plan to replace those benefits? Do they know that their premiums could double if Kelly’s repeal vote isn’t followed quickly with approval of a good replacement plan, according to a Jan. 17 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office?

I hope these 16,500 people will call Kelly’s office (724-282-2557) and ask: What happens if I have a pre-existing condition? Will another insurance company have to keep covering my cancer treatment, my ongoing treatment for diabetes or high blood pressure? Will my prescriptions be covered? Will my coverage be capped at a certain lifetime dollar amount?

The ACA isn’t perfect, but it has saved the lives of many who previously would have been denied coverage. Of course, lower deductibles, copays and monthly premiums would be ideal, and a productive, bipartisan discussion about how to improve the program is long overdue. But if Kelly and Congress haven’t come up with a better plan in the past six years of trying to do so, should we really have any confidence they can do so in a rush after tossing out the ACA?