Activists ate birthday cake at the Morristown office of Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) on Thursday to celebrate the seventh anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and to urge the Congressman to vote against the GOP’s postponed replacement bill.
Frelinghuysen is among the few New Jersey members of Congress who have not indicated they will oppose the American Health Care Act, according to NJ 11th for Change.
On his website, Frelinghuysen on Tuesday said Obamacare “is failing to make health care affordable and is crumbling, with skyrocketing premiums, soaring deductibles, and fewer choices for patients and families.
“The law is also wreaking havoc on the job market, especially for small businesses. We must make positive changes — because doing nothing is not an option!”
While the Republican proposal “is not perfect,” Frelinghuysen said, “it is moving in the right direction to provide quality, affordable health insurance for all Americans.”
He said he was “actively reviewing the latest changes to the bill” and he expected “continued improvements as it moves forward.”
The activists arrived at the Congressman’s office soon after House Speaker Paul Ryan announced the vote on Trumpcare, as some are calling the GOP plan, had been postponed.
“Families with children singing the birthday song and eating cake to celebrate the anniversary of the landmark legislation that has made health care affordable and accessible for tens of millions of Americans,” NJ 11th for Change said in a statement.
The grassroots group cited a New Jersey Policy Perspective report that estimates as many as 467,000 New Jerseyans will lose health care coverage if the ACA is repealed, with some 15,800 of them residing in Morris County, Frelinghuysen’s home base.
Some 24 million fewer Americans would be covered under the new bill than under Obamacare by 2026, according to estimates by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
Revisions to the bill have trimmed its potential deficit savings to $150 billion over a decade, from earlier calculations of $337 billion, the CBO estimates.
A vote is anticipated on Friday, March 24, 2017. President Trump has been lobbying wavering Republicans hard all week, according to reports.
So wonderful to indoctrinate your children into the wonderful world of partisan politics. Never to soon to learn how to hate those with a different view than your own. Lame.