Health care professionals, senators, patients gather in Detroit to oppose Obamacare repeal

Sept. 22--Louisa Pietrowsky was born three years ago with half a heart.

Since then, the youngster, who has a single-ventricle heart, has endured multiple heart and lung failures and is awaiting another life-saving heart surgery next year. Some of the care for Tom and Andrea Pietrowsky's daughter has been paid for by Medicaid, and the Grosse Pointe Woods' couple worry that if the latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act is successful, they'll face tragic consequences.

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"We brought her home when she was 7 months old on a ventilator. That was only possible because of Medicaid," Andrea Pietrowsky said. "But this is not just about us. We will always advocate for our own, but this is about everyone."

The trio joined Michigan health professionals and Michigan's two U.S. senators, Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, in Detroit on Friday to oppose the Graham-Cassidy repeal bill, which will be up for a vote in the U.S. Senate, perhaps as soon as next week.

The federal legislation would get rid of the mandate that individuals have to buy insurance, along with the sanction for large employers that don't offer reasonably priced insurance to employees. But for the most part, the Obamacare taxes would stay in place and be redistributed to states in the form of block grants.

The bill would also end the Medicaid expansion that 31 states, including Michigan, and Washington, D.C., took advantage of under Obamacare and overhaul the funding for traditional Medicaid. In Michigan, more than 670,000 people signed up for the Medicaid expansion program.

"The current bill will be devastating for patients and Michiganders who are finally getting health care they need and deserve," said Wright Lassiter, president and CEO of the Henry Ford Health System.

Stabenow was a member of a bipartisan group that was trying to come up with a plan to fix Obamacare and stabilize the insurance markets.

"We thought we were done with this incredibly divisive approach. ... I was so pleased to get a bipartisan agreement," she said. "And then, all of a sudden, the rug was pulled out from under us. The negotiating stopped."

Peters said that usually after a bill fails, such as when the last attempt to repeal Obamacare lost by one vote in August, negotiations begin and a better solution emerges.

"But I've never seen a bill that comes back and it's worse," he said. "Tens of millions of people will lose coverage. Seniors will pay more, and people who desperately need help aren't going to be able to get it. The U.S. Congress can do better."

The news conference came just a couple of hours before U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he couldn't vote for the bill without knowing its impact. Combined with GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and possibly Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in the no-vote column, Republicans could fall short again next week if the Graham-Cassidy bill is brought up.

And that would be just fine with Dr. Sharon Swindell, president-elect of the Michigan chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

"In Michigan, 1.2 million children rely on Medicaid," she said. "It's a lifeline for children with special health care needs. We cannot and should not go backwards. I want a bill that allows children to get the care they need, and this bill takes care away."

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, [email protected] or on Twitter @michpoligal

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