Obamacare advocates rally against Trumpcare in West Palm Beach

March 22--West Palm Beach

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Congress is slated to vote on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act today, and on Wednesday about 25 people gathered at Currie Park on Flagler Drive to speak out against the replacement dubbed "Trumpcare."

After a few short speeches, they threw thousands of rose petals into the Intracoastal Waterway in recognition of friends and family who have benefited from the ACA.

The House is expected to vote on the proposed rollback of the ACA, dubbed Obamacare, and consider a new bill called the the American Health Care Act. Today marks the seventh anniversary of the health law passed during the Obama administration's first term.

The group at Currie Park Wednesday included representatives of Planned Parenthood, the Service Employees International Union, the Women's March and people who are against the replacement plan they say would defund Planned Parenthood and hurt other healthcare benefits by making them more expensive.

"Defunding Planned Parenthood would be devastating to Florida, stripping away essential health care that tens of thousands of patients rely on, and blocking millions across the country from accessing reproductive health care," said Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, West Palm Beach.

"For many patients, Planned Parenthood is the only health-care provider they see, and blocking them from coming to Planned Parenthood means there would be nowhere else to go," she added. "We're not going to stand for it."

Goodhue called the proposed bill "the worst healthcare bill we've seen for women in a generation," and added, "People don't want to see these rights go backwards."

Changes to Medicaid, which gives more than 55 million Americans access to prevention services with no co-pay, would make it more difficult to access preventative care, Goodhue said.

A Congressional Budget Office report released March 13 estimated the House bill could save taxpayers $323 billion during 10 years, but cause 24 million people to drop out of coverage.

Betsy Marville, a registered nurse and nurse organizer with SEIU, said: "ACA is very special to me as a nurse and as a union member. We worked very hard on this bill. It didn't just happen overnight. The bill they are presenting and voting on tomorrow was hastily put together."

Carol Rinaldi, 62, a Boca Raton retiree, said she took early retirement from her job this past year. She felt secure because coverage through ACA kicked in when her insurance benefits ran out. Now she's too young for Medicare and feels that her health-insurance coverage is in jeopardy.

Lisa Tilson, retiree coordinator with SEIU, said health care, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are not partisan issues. Her father George Pitt, a lifelong Republican and successful lawyer in Chicago, died over a year ago.

"He thought he would work until he died. He got frontal lobe dementia and required nursing-home care. He did not have savings, a pension or 401k. He qualified for Medicaid. If it was not for Medicaid, my Dad would not have had the care he needed," Tilson said.

"I hope that President Trump, who resides across the water, is listening," Tilson said.

The Rev. Bunny Dubin, who said she happened to be in Currie Park feeding the homeless, said she believes that health care is a human right.

"We're one human family. It's time we started acting like one," Dubin said.

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