Groups want town hall meeting
Activists protest repeal of health care act, want Rep. John Ratcliffe to hold public event
Activists assembled Friday morning at the Texarkana office of U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe to request a town hall meeting and protest efforts to repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
Some with signs bearing slogans like “ACA Saves Lives,” about 15 people organized by Bowie County Democrats came together for an event at Ratcliffe’s branch office on the campus of Texarkana College. Activist groups Indivisible and Our Revolution were also represented in the group.
Because the school was closed for spring break, protesters could not enter the Health Science Building where Ratcliffe’s office is and instead gathered on the grass outside. Reached in the Texarkana office Friday afternoon, Ratcliffe’s local spokesman Charles Jordan said he was unaware of any activity there that morning.
Bowie County Democrats Chairwoman Amber Keith said the event was necessary because Ratcliffe has not recently held a town hall meeting and many of his constituents want to remind him they depend on the ACA, better known as Obamacare. Participants came from as far away as Paris, Texas, she said.
“For about six weeks that I’m aware of … constituents have been calling for an in-person town hall. Thousands of people across the district have been calling, but very few of us have received any response from (Ratcliffe’s) offices, so what we decided to do was to hold our own ‘Coffee With
Constituents,’” she said.
The event’s focus was spotlighting the Congressional Budget Office’s evaluation of Republicans’ proposed replacement for the ACA, which, it said, would result in millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage.
“We are trying desperately to call attention to this matter,” Keith said. “Approximately 2,000 families in Bowie County do rely on the Affordable Care Act.”
Local activist Bess Gamble Williams attended the protest to bring attention to veterans’ health care issues.
“We have so many veterans who do not have insurance, believe it or not,” she said. “The PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) in Texarkana is unbelievably large and immense. I am dealing with suicides. Every week, someone is calling me about a veteran ready to take his life. … We need everything they’re getting through the Affordable Care Act.”
Ratcliffe’s communications director, Rachel Stephens, said that he normally is quite accessible but since President Donald Trump took office, working to abolish Obamacare has taken priority.
“We’ve been in this almost six-week stretch up here in D.C., and that’s not going to be over until the end of this month. … We’ve spent a whole lot of days trying to push that (ACA repeal) through.
“He does coffees with your congressman, so people can have more of a one-on-one chat with him, which people have really appreciated in the past. He does open houses, which give people a chance to come in, shake his hand and talk to him face to face. Those kinds of open forums. We plan to continue doing that. He’s been extremely present in the district throughout the entire past two years and been very accessible,” she said.
Ratcliffe and other lawmakers met with Trump on Friday morning to discuss replacing Obamacare, which he called in a statement “an unmitigated disaster that is collapsing right in front of us.”
“Today I had a productive discussion with President Trump about a number of conservative reforms to improve the proposed House Republican health care bill,” he said. “The president asked for my help in pushing these key reforms through, and I stand ready and willing to do just that.”
Keith said more demonstrations are on the way. She was elected chairperson of Bowie County Democrats less than a month ago and is encouraged by the group’s energy she has encountered so far.
“The response has been overwhelming. I’m pretty surprised about the turnout that I’ve had,” Keith said. “We will be an active group, and we will be doing more events.”
On Twitter: @RealKarlRichter