For Arthur Lynch, politics has always been an intriguing topic, and he’s openly weighed in on issues that ranged from gay marriage, to the 2012 presidential election.

This week, the former Georgia tight end and native of Dartmouth, Mass. who played in the NFL, gave his latest opinion on the ongoing healthcare debate in Washington and across the country. Lynch was drafted by the NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins. He later was signed by the Atlanta Falcons before his connection with Obamacare began. He tweeted this week that the healthcare law saved him from going into debt after he suffered a broken back.

This isn’t the first time he’s weighed in on a political topic in an open forum.

In 2013, he told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that he supported gay marriage.

“If you love someone and want to get married, by all means go do it,” he said. “Human rights are kind of a big deal to me. That’s what this country was founded on, was for people to enjoy their individual liberties and individual freedoms on their own accord without people passing judgment or scrutinizing them or prosecuting them legally.”

Lynch has the unique perspective of growing up in the northeast and then spending several years in the South, two areas of the country that have contrasting views politically.

“The underlying quality that people in Washington lack is the ability to adapt to different regions of the country,” Lynch said. “That’s one thing that made me catch interest in (politics), is that I understood maybe why there are Republicans and Democrats and why certain people have certain views. And it’s not because one side is better than the other. But I think it’s just because of the way you grew up, what you were accustomed to.

“To really understand bipartisanship, you really have to understand where people come from,” he said. “And a lot of people try to hold on to these beliefs and not change. I think I’ve become very open to both sides, and that’s really helped me learn about myself. That’s an underlying quality that you need if you want to go into public service.”