Republicans face anger over Obamacare repeal during town halls
Obamacare supporters showed up in huge numbers to voice concerns over repeal.
By VICTORIA COLLIVER
02/04/17 04:38 PM EST
Updated 02/04/17 07:28 PM EST
ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Two Republican lawmakers representing reliably conservative districts on opposite ends of the country on Saturday faced down heated questions from Obamacare supporters who flooded town hall events demanding that Congress not dismantle a health care law that has provided insurance for millions of people.
Fervent backers of the health care law shouted down Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), blasting his views on the Obamacare repeal and President Donald Trump’s immigration ban. Hundreds of demonstrators showed up — some as early as 6:30 a.m. — to a theater in downtown Roseville, just northeast of Sacramento.
After the meeting ended, McClintock was escorted by police as the crowd outside the theater shouted “Resist!” and "Shame!"
The hostile crowd in Roseville was just the latest sign of trouble for congressional Republicans as they face voters outside of Washington. In Pinellas County, Fla., Gus Bilirakis, who represents a district Trump won, was on the defensive as voters packed a town hall on Obamacare. For more than two hours, Bilirakis listened to stories from his constituents — young, old, black and white — who implored him to not repeal the federal health care law without having a replacement ready.
“To take away the Affordable Care Act is taking away my freedom and justice,” said Evan Thornton, a 21-year-old St. Petersburg College student who said he was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome at 16 and has stayed on his mother’s insurance because of Obamacare. “It’s taking away my life.”
Hundreds of protesters, some holding signs favoring the Affordable Care Act and demanding a town meeting, gathered outside a GOP gathering Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill) attended in his district early Saturday, the Chicago NBC affiliate reported.
Liberal-leaning groups are trying to foment a real movement against Trump — and in particular against repeal of Obamacare — sharing spreadsheets of town halls for Republicans across the country in hopes of sparking a grassroots movement similar to the tea party movement of 2009. Videos of screaming constituents were splashed across TV that summer as Congress drafted Obamacare, slowing the law’s momentum and crushing any chance that Republicans would help pass it.
So far, protests against the repeal effort are not nearly as heated as those rage-filled 2009 town halls, some of which ended in fistfights, arrests and hospitalizations. But they show growing angst over the GOP’s uncertain plans to replace the health care law.
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Amanda Barnes, a 28-year-old resident of Auburn, Calif., told McClintock she considered it an “act of God” that she was able to get on her mother’s health insurance five months before she was hit by a car, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. Barnes said at the time she was covered by the Obamacare provision allowing young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance..
“If I had not had my mother’s insurance to cover my health care costs, I would have been over half million in debt just in the first three days," she said, asking how McClintock would protect her health.
Republican leaders say they’re still trying to push through a repeal of Obamacare while approving major parts of a replacement plan by early March. But there are deep disagreements among GOP lawmakers about how much of Obamacare they should salvage, with Obamacare’s fiercest critics pushing to kill as much of the law as swiftly as possible through a fast-track budget process.
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