Protesters stand against Obamacare repeal

June 22--During her years as a family practice physician in Chippewa Falls, Rita Simon frequently treated patients with ailments that could have been prevented by earlier medical attention if they had access to affordable health insurance.

Diabetes. Heart disease. Arthritis. Simon worked with so many patients she wished she had been able to see before illnesses became chronic and ravaged their bodies.

Driven in part by memories of those patients, Simon joined a couple of dozen people Wednesday in Eau Claire holding signs along West Clairemont Avenue expressing concerns about the proposed congressional overthrow of the Affordable Care Act, enacted in 2010, that opened health care access to an estimated 20 million to 24 million people.

"Unless this new legislation protects those essential benefits, things with health insurance will go back to being as bad as they were before the ACA, or maybe even worse," Simon said at the rally that occurred in front of the new Marshfield Clinic Health System hospital and cancer center currently under construction.

The U.S. Senate is considering repealing the ACA, commonly referred to as Obamacare, because it was approved under former President Barack Obama's administration. Many details about changes to the ACA the Senate is pondering aren't known, thanks to closed-door negotiations, but some Republicans have said they will closely resemble the American Health Care Act that House Republicans approved last month.

That action would eliminate coverage for an estimated 23 million people across the U.S. and end the current Medicaid system, among other changes that would adversely impact people struggling to afford health insurance, analysts have said. The AHCA would provide more than $600 million in tax breaks to the wealthy, critics said.

Republicans have said they plan to vote on the matter before July 4. They have criticized the ACA as being unaffordable for too many, for forcing people to have health insurance or face a monetary penalty, and for complicating the health care system.

On Wednesday health insurer Anthem announced it is withdrawing from the ACA marketplace in Wisconsin. Gov. Scott Walker and other Republicans in the state criticized the ACA for its costly regulations, rising health insurance premiums and lack of options.

"Obamacare is collapsing," Walker said in a news release. "If we do nothing, more companies will back out and more people will lose coverage."

Democrats defended the ACA, saying reversing it simply isn't acceptable, given that such changes would leave so many without access to quality health care. Protesters in Eau Claire held signs bearing such messages as "Don't Take Your Tax Break From Our Health Care" and "Medicare for All. All in, None Out!" as they expressed their opposition to overturning ACA. Many motorists driving by the group lining West Clairemont Avenue honked horns in support.

Eau Claire resident June Hootman said she knows many friends with pre-existing medical conditions who likely won't be able to afford health insurance if the ACA is done away with. One of her family members with a heart condition also may not be able to receive coverage if the pre-existing protections under the ACA are repealed.

"In a country with as many resources as ours ... to not insure that people have health care coverage is appalling," Hootman said.

Simon has similar concerns about her daughter, who was diagnosed with skin cancer at age 26. She was able to receive health care coverage after the ACA was adopted but likely would lose it if the ACA is reversed, Simon said.

Simon, Hootman and others expressed concern that details about proposed ACA alterations are taking place behind closed doors instead of at public hearings in each state to solicit people's input.

"They are doing this in secret. It's just plain wrong," former longtime Eau Claire school board member Carol Craig said.

Republican legislation to repeal the ACA is being peddled as a health care bill, but it has another purpose, said Jeff Smith, organizer for Citizen Action Western Wisconsin Organizing Cooperative.

"This is a tax cut bill, not a health care bill," Smith said amid the roar of machinery being used to build the Marshfield facilities. "And it's about tax cuts for the wealthy."

Contact: 715-830-5911, julian.emerson@ecpc.com

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