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Thomas J. Botzman: Small colleges like Misericordia positioned for success even 150 years from now

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The third open enrollment period for the Health Insurance Marketplace is underway, and we have a lot to be thankful for as we look back over the first five years of the Affordable Care Act. More than 17.6 million people have gained health insurance thanks to the law. Many are thankful for the peace of mind and financial security having insurance provides. Preventive services and early treatment are saving lives, and we&#8217;re thankful for those lives.There are many additional reasons why everyone with health insurance can be thankful for the ACA. Here are just a few.&#8226; Young adults under the age of 26 can stay on their parents&#8217; health plans.&#8226; You can&#8217;t be denied coverage or charged more for pre-existing conditions.&#8226; Women can&#8217;t be charged more for health insurance just because they&#8217;re female.&#8226; We&#8217;re closing the Medicare prescription drug &#8220;doughnut hole.&#8221;&#8226; There are no yearly or lifetime out-of-pocket limits for health care.Open enrollment runs from now to Jan. 31, 2016. If you haven&#8217;t already enrolled, take this opportunity to give yourself some of these reasons to be thankful. Visit <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/" target="_blank">HealthCare.gov</a> or your state&#8217;s marketplace and enroll in health care for yourself and your family. If you&#8217;re eligible for Medicaid, you&#8217;ll find out when you apply.As we take time to reflect on the last few years and look forward to the future, we can all be thankful that as a nation we will have longer and healthier lives.Joanne Corte GrossiRegional directorU.S. Department of Health and Human ServicesPhiladelphia

Letter to the Editor: Nation’s health care law improving lives; be grateful and sign up