Group Makes Voices Heard On New Health Care Proposal

A group of around three dozen area residents gathered outside Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick’s office in Middletown Thursday to make their opinion on the new Republican-backed health care proposal known.

The group held signs that chided the new health care proposal as “Trumpcare” and asked the congressman not to vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare.

Levittown resident Tessa Smith attended the demonstration with her family. She said her parents rely on Obamacare to receive consistent health coverage for her mother, who has battled cancer several times. She said her concern is the new proposal would impact her parent’s ability to get affordable health insurance.

“[The new health care plan] is great if you’re a member of the swamp that Trump said he would drain,” said Jody Nachman of Chalfont, who voiced worry that the disabled and elderly would face increased health care costs.

“My two biggest issues right now are education and health care,” said Nachman, who relies on Medicare.

Dave Kerr, a resident of Central Bucks County, said he felt it was important to make his voice heard for his friends and family who are on Obamacare currently and are pleased with their plans. “I have insurance through my work, but I’m here for those who aren’t,” he said.

“The Affordable Care Act was as close to a perfect system – obviously it has problems like any system – as possible,” he said. “The new [health care proposal] will put a burden on the poor and elderly.”

Members of the demonstration, which was organized by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, walked up to Fitzpatrick’s fourth-floor office in the One Summit Trace building to let the congressman know their point of view. Fitzpatrick was in Washington D.C. but his office staff collected information sheets from the group.

Following the introduction of the new health care bill, Fitzpatrick on Monday night released the following statement:

Credit: Tom Sofield/NewtownPANow.com

When it comes to the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” too much of the debate been focused on buzz words and slogans: repeal, defund, delay, replace, fix, reform. Here are the facts:

By any measure, it is abundantly clear that our healthcare system is broken and desperately needs to be fixed. Premiums and deductibles are increasing, while access is decreasing and still far too many do not have coverage even seven years after implementation of the ACA.  As I have said repeatedly: What we need to do is to expand access, improve quality and reduce costs to allow the greatest number of Americans to have access to high-quality, affordable healthcare.  The American people, and my constituents, deserve nothing less.

However, what is not acceptable is to proceed down this path without an actual superseding healthcare improvement bill that has been written, debated and voted on; a bill that keeps the positive portions of the ACA – particularly the patient protection provisions – while addressing the very real shortcomings and outright failures. When it comes to access to lifesaving medical care, we simply can’t allow people to fall through the cracks.

We need to proceed in fixing our healthcare system in a responsible, deliberate manner. That means any changes or improvements to our current system must ensure both the continuity of coverage and the continuity of patient protection provisions, and should be undertaken in a bipartisan fashion

Several of Thursday’s demonstrators said they planned to keep up the pressure on Fitzpatrick to reject the new health care law.