Local officials to Faso: Reform, but don’t repeal Obamacare

Jan. 20--KINGSTON -- "Are you listening, Faso?"

Joseph Stratford, health care union political organizer, stood on the steps of Kingston City Hall Thursday, shouting into a microphone plugged into a single little speaker at his feet. Behind him a dozen other union and political and community organizers stood in the bright sunlight.

They were there hoping to send a message to John Faso, the Republican elected in November to represent the 19th Congressional District of New York in Washington, D.C. The meat of the message: Don't repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as it is also known. Reform it if you must, but don't just vote to repeal it without a plan to replace it.

"Care, not chaos," read the picket signs.

Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, a Democrat from Kingston, reached for the microphone. "Kingston Hospital will suffer; the City of Kingston will suffer if the ACA is upended," Cahill said. "Who will suffer the most? The people who need it the most," he said.

Lori Velsey took the microphone. She said she is getting divorced and that she and her children will soon lose health insurance through her soon-to-be-ex-husband. A health care worker at a nursing home in Highland, she can't afford the expense of health insurance through her employer.

"If the repeal goes through, what am I supposed to do? I worry about losing my job, too," she said. "Mr. Faso, do not vote for repeal of the ACA, make it better."

Faso said Thursday between inaugural events in Washington, D.C., that he is listening. "I am listening especially to the people who have constructive solutions to fix the mess we have," he said. "My job is to listen but also to look at the facts and realities on the ground."

His approach is to reform the system, he said. He said he supports aspects of the Affordable Care Act line allowing pre-existing medical conditions and keeping children on parent plans to age 26.

Faso would not commit to supporting President-elect Donald Trump's stated advocacy of cheaper, better health coverage for all.

"There is no magic wand," he said. "There is a difference between a good health care system and a good, adequate, insurance system. ...; What I am promising to do is work constructively with all sides to arrive at the best possible reforms and fixes to the existing system."

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