Local Democrats urge seniors to fight GOP bill

Senior citizens could pay thousands of dollars more in health-insurance premiums under U.S. Senate Republicans’ latest health-care bill, local Democratic officials said at a forum Monday.

“We all come together today because we share these core values that every person in our community is important,” Franklin County Commissioner Marilyn Brown told a room full of seniors at the Gillie Community Senior Center. “Every person deserves the right access to health care.”

City Council President Zach Klein said local Democrats aren’t the only ones opposed to the bill.

“I’m standing with Mayor (Andrew J.) Ginther and, in a bipartisan way, symbolically with (Republican) Governor (John) Kasich, saying that these cuts are devastating, and they don’t represent the values of our country,” Klein said. “How can a kid get a good-quality education if that kid is sick? How can a parent provide for their family if that parent is sick?”

The bill would make dramatic cuts to Medicaid and would not guarantee coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, two areas that would hurt seniors in particular, officials said. “These cruel cuts also threaten the stability of over 7,000 Franklin County residents,” Brown said.

Klein said a 60-yearold making $18,000 per year would see a premium increase of $1,424, and a senior making $42,000 would pay $4,515 more. He

“How can a kid get a good-quality education if that kid is sick? How can a parent provide for their family if that parent is sick?”

— Columbus City Council President Zach Klein

called the bill “unacceptable” and an “affront to everything we believe in as Americans.”

“We need to be talking about expanding access to health care, getting people the health care that they need so they can realize the opportunity that they deserve for economic success, for family success,” Klein said. “Without your health, you got nothing.”

Ginther said the event was planned as a call to action for the community, and encouraged everyone in attendance to call Ohio’s U.S. senators, Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman, repeatedly giving their phone numbers. Brown, a Democrat, opposes the bill. Portman, a Republican, has said he has concerns and is studying the latest version.

Klein said he hopes senators will work across the aisle. “Because this is such an important issue, it needs to be done in a bipartisan way.””