Rally Against Repealing Affordable Care Act Draws More Than 1,000 To Hartford

Jan. 15--Jonathan Miller stood before more than a thousand people rallying at the Capitol against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and told them how it had saved his life.

"If you want to work through the Affordable Care Act and dismantle this ... I want you to hear this from the bottom of my scarred, diseased lung. You will not hurt families -- you will ruin families. You will kill people," Miller said. " The consequences will be fatal."

Miller, a Meriden resident, was one of three speakers who shared their personal experiences of the Affordable Care Act at a rally on Sunday afternoon held by U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, and Reps. Elizabeth Esty, Joe Courtney and Rosa DeLauro, all Democrats opposed to repealing the act, also known as Obamacare.

"If you're not aware, for someone like me it is tens of thousands of dollars each month for treatment," Miller said. "I don't want that for anybody. The Affordable Care Act gave me coverage I needed and could afford.

For Isabelle Endicott, the act meant that she wouldn't have to worry about the more than $250,000 medical treatment her infant son required for a pre-existing heart condition.

"I am now worried about Rylan's future," she told the crowd. "My family would have been in serious financial trouble."

In the shade of the Capitol building, people gathered with signs protesting the possible repeal of the act that has given 20 million Americans access to health insurance.

Karen Tracy drove up from Stratford to attend the rally, carrying a sign for the National Organization for Women.

"I actually am on my employer's health care so I am one of the lucky people in the United States who doesn't have to worry about paying for prescription drugs, care and not have the means to do it. But I feel like repealing without replacing it is not going to work for [20] million people in the United States," she said.

During the rally, members of Connecticut's congressional delegation told citizens to put pressure on Congress to reconsider repealing the act.

"This is not inevitable, this is not a lost fight," Murphy said. "This isn't politics, this isn't theory, this is people's lives. If they get rid of the Affordable Care Act, you better believe they're coming for Medicare, they're coming for Medicaid, they're coming for Social Security -- this is where we draw the line in the sand."

Murphy, along with Blumenthal, Esty, DeLauro and Courtney, urged citizens to contact friends, neighbors and relatives to explain why they feel the Affordable Care Act should be preserved.

"We need to mobilize an army of activists to make America aware of what is at stake," Blumenthal said. "I don't care if it is a red state or a blue state, we are all a united state."

Blumenthal called Republican attempts to repeal the act "a war on women's health."

"If I didn't know better and this issue wasn't so bad, I'd feel sorry for our Republican friends. They're the dogs that caught the bus and have to turn their rhetoric into a reality," he said. "This kind of talk has already caused anxiety and apprehension."

DeLauro approached the issue from an economic standpoint and said the repealing the act will cause further wealth imbalance.

"[It] would give 400 of the richest families a tax cut of $7 million. It will hand it over to the wealthiest. Working people, middle class families will lose health care while the rich gain."

For Faik Islami of Thomaston, the distribution of wealth is a critical component of the issue. An immigrant, Faik left communist Albania and came to the U.S. 50 years ago, working two jobs to pay his way through college.

"Rich are getting richer, poor are getting poorer. Health care should be universal. I want everyone to have health care. I want you and I to have it tomorrow," he said.

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