Packed town hall in Palco, Kan., urges Moran to stand firm against GOP health bill
The room at the McKenna Youth and Activity Center was meant to house 65 people but roughly 150 showed up for the town hall in
Moran, a
He warned that the current
"I'm elected as a Republican but I'm a member of a minority. And that minority is
"I understand the value of a hospital in your community, a physician in your town, a pharmacy on main street," Moran said.
Moran, who has consistently voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act in recent years, said
It's "almost impossible to try to solve when you're trying to do it with 51 votes in the
The
Moran would not disclose details about his conversations with
The bill "helps low-income Kansans that have fallen between the cracks in the Obamacare Medicaid glitch to afford care for the first time," he said in a statement. "Obamacare has cost Kansans their money and their choices in health care. I am certainly open to ways (the bill) can be improved, but keeping Obamacare as is -- is not an option."
Activists from the
"When I was a student at
But the crowd also included dozens of people from
"I knew
"We really support military to protect us from external threat, but we don't really look at the internal threat from injury and disease and fund it the same way," Cox said.
Jeff Zamarzla, a 59-year-old veteran from
"It would work. ... The system's already in place," said Zamarzla, who noted that his cousin works in Moran's
Moran said the federal government needs to ensure the stability of Medicaid and Medicare for the programs' current beneficiaries before expanding the federal health program.
"In western
McMindes, who volunteers for the
"There was no doctor there. They took him to another hospital and there was no doctor there," she said.
"They're salt-of-the-earth-type people and that puts Jerry in a difficult position," he said. "You know, he's intelligent. He's informed. He's a very nice man and so now, he's a Republican, which puts him in a difficult position."
Former state Rep.
"The pro-life question got shouted down in
And while opponents to the
"Under Obamacare my health premiums have more than tripled," said Steeples, a 62-year-old
"You can't just repeal something without a replacement, and I don't know that we have a really good replacement ready to go, but I would like to see it repealed."
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