Local activists celebrate Republican healthcare bill failure

March 25--DOVER -- What was billed as a rally to save the Affordable Care Act became a celebration as activists learned of the defeat of the efforts to repeal and replace the 2010 healthcare law.

About a dozen of activists stood outside Rep. Carol Shea-Porter's Congressional Office in Dover as it snowed and hailed Friday afternoon. The rally began at 4 p.m., about 25 minutes after news from Washington, D.C. broke that the replacement bill, known as the American Health Care Act, would not be voted on. It was pulled by House Republican leadership minutes before the planned vote.

"The bill is dead. That is awesome," said activist Peter Miller with Indivisible New Hampshire that hosted the rally on the sidewalk. "We didn't know what was going to happen when we planned it."

With various signs like, "ACA Saves Lives" and "Boot the Bum," the group received numerous honks of praise as they stood outside.

Caitlin Rollo, of Rollinsford, a former state representative who has worked for Shea-Porter, said it was because of the ACA, also known as ObamaCare, that she didn't lose health insurance coverage when she was pregnant and learned her daughter had a rare disease.

"It's because of this law that our family did not face financial disaster," she said.

Michael Glover, of Durham, was there in support of the ACA. He spoke of the fear his family had when he lost his job at the turn of the century when the company he worked for folded, and there was no COBRA health care coverage available. His then young daughter had survived a bout with leukemia two years before. When he went to the open market to get health insurance, his daughter was denied coverage because of the leukemia diagnosis, even though there was never a gap in health care coverage, he said.

"I assumed I would just have to pay a lot, but I was told no," he said. "Even if you're an 11 year old, they'll throw your overboard."

He subsequently was hired at a different company, and his daughter was then able to get health coverage. She's now a graduate student at Bowdoin College.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that 24 million people may lose coverage under the ACHA by 2026. However, the CBO estimated that 14 million of those losing coverage would choose not to get health care coverage because the mandate to do so under the ACA would have been repealed.

"Everybody's got to be in or it doesn't work," said Bob Perry of Strafford, who was also a former state representative.

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