Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Protesters at Sen. Rubio’s office target GOP health care bill
Protesters outside U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s office Tuesday used stark imagery to oppose the Republican health care bill.
About 100 demonstrators, including one dressed as the Grim Reaper and another as a blackveiled woman lying against her tombstone, expressed anger that the American Health Care Act passed the House of Representatives and warned Rubio not to support it in the Senate.
“It’s called the ‘TrumpCare funeral for health care,’ ” said Melanie Gold, an organizer with the group Indivisible Central Florida. “It’s to signify that you’re talking about people when you talk about health care. You’re not talking about political ideals; you’re not talking about pieces of paper.”
A Rubio spokesman said the protest was “organized by liberal activists who are making wild claims without any evidence.”
The AHCA passed the U.S. House last week by a slim margin of 217-213, with all Democrats and 20 Republicans voting against it.
Among those voting in favor were all four of Central Florida’s Republican congressmen, U.S. Reps. Ron DeSantis, R-Ponte Vedra Beach; Bill Posey, RRockledge; Dennis Ross, RLakeland; and Dan Webster, R-Clermont, all of whom were featured on a faux “tombstone” at the protest predicting the death of their political careers in 2018.
The bill, which now heads to the Senate, has still not received a score from the Congressional Budget Office on its cost and effect on coverage.
The original Republican bill, pulled in March because of a lack of support among conservatives and moderates, was estimated to result in 24 million fewer people having health care coverage by 2026.
A group of conservative holdouts supported the bill after an amendment was included that would allow states to pull out of protections for people with preexisting conditions. In any states that did pull out, another amendment added money for high-risk pools, which gained a few moderates.
A Monday poll by YouGov, an international polling firm based in the UK, showed only 31 percent of Americans support the bill.
Protesters outside Rubio’s office held signs that read, “Being a woman should not be a pre-existing condition” and “With TrumpCare, we’ll be playing harps sooner rather than later” as a woman strummed a harp and played the funeral song.
Marilu Dempsey’s daughter had pancreatitis, she said, but lost her job — and her insurance — after she was hospitalized.
“That was the state of insurance in this country before the ACA,” she said, referring to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
“Many, many of the real, regular people is this country are just so angry and hurt and in pain by some of the things going on in this administration,” said Judith Rubinger of Orlando. “The health care issue is the latest insult.”
Other faux tombstones read, “AHCA: Against Health Care Always,” and “Here lies Webster, may his policies fester.”
Webster wrote Tuesday in an op-ed in VillagesNews.com that he had been concerned about the effect of the bill on Medicaidfunded nursing home beds, but after speaking with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, he felt they “have committed to find a solution to ensure Florida is equipped to serve [our] most vulnerable” and voted for the bill.
Others wore signs symbolizing some of the preexisting conditions they said would result in unaffordable insurance premiums under the AHCA, with several talking about their own pre-existing conditions and those of their children.
Rubio spokesman Matt Wolking said Obamacare “canceled the health insurance plans of millions of people and caused premiums to skyrocket, and now, many Americans are stuck with fewer choices and less access to care. Senator Rubio is working to replace this failing system with one that is better for Floridians and their families.”