The recently passed Republican “health care bill” in the House is anything but that. If it were, the Republicans would have spent the past eight years fine-tuning a carefully crafted alternative to Obamacare that would actually deliver on their promise to help Americans.

But their hastily thrown-together bill has nothing to do with good health care policy. It simply deprives health care to millions of people, especially the rural poor and the elderly.

Let’s call it what it is — a massive tax cut for the rich, who don’t enjoy using a tiny fraction of their wealth to help the less fortunate by pitching in to make health care accessible.

Rep. Bruce Poliquin voted for the bill, knowing that Maine — a state with a large population of poor and elderly people — would suffer under its provisions. To add insult to injury, he and his fellow Republicans exempted themselves from the bill, so that they can continue to enjoy the best health care available in this nation. Since Poliquin is wealthy, he gets a double benefit from his vote.

If Rep. Poliquin’s vote on health care is a sample of what he has to offer Maine for the rest of his term, it is a sad day for the working and retired men and women of Maine.

Rebecca Stanley, Monmouth