Indivisible Charlottesville held a rally Tuesday evening, opposing the Senate healthcare bill delayed for vote just hours earlier. In front of the Albemarle County Office Building, community members spoke out against the bill and thanked Virginia Senators Mark Warner (D) and Tim Kaine (D) for fighting against it.
Indivisible Charlottesville’s Patrick Jackson said the rally was originally planned with the purpose of encouraging Warner and Kaine to ‘filibuster the bill by amendment,’ to offer amendments to the bill that each require time for debate and slow the process.
“Both the House and the Senate have put together a healthcare bill mostly in secret, without the input of citizen groups or advocacy organizations, Democrats or really anyone other than about 13 men in the Senate,” Jackson said. “We think that legislating on an issue that affects all of us and impacts more than a sixth of the U.S. economy in secret is inappropriate.”
But today Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced the Senate will be waiting until after the July 4 recess to vote on the bill, which seeks to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with the American Health Care Act (AHCA).
Jackson said the bill, if it passes, could affect thousands of Virginians. In an analysis, the Congressional Budget Office said the AHCA could leave 22 million people uninsured by 2026.
“We know from previous analyses that tens of thousands of people in Central Virginia would lose their healthcare,” Jackson said. “America’s Essential Hospitals, which is a trade organization that includes U.Va., VCU and Carilion [Clinic], told the Washington Post that this bill would lead to rural hospitals being shut down, and that people would die as a result. We think this bill would hurt especially the most vulnerable people among us, especially children, pregnant women, people with disabilities, seniors in nursing homes.”
At the rally, representatives from political advocacy groups, local candidates and politicians spoke in front of about a hundred protesters, who chanted, ‘Do or die, the stakes are high,’ and held signs.
“This is not about empowering the states,” 57th District Del. David Toscano (D) said at the rally. “It’s about tax cuts.”
One of the signs said, ‘Honk if you think healthcare is a human right.’ Drivers passing by honked at the protesters.
“I know it’s difficult to keep calling your [representatives],” Adam Slate, a Democrat trying to unseat Rep. Tom Garrett (R) in the 5th District House election, said. “But if you listen to this [honking] behind me, you know that it still works.”
Toscano said people are speaking out by going to their representatives’ offices and holding other rallies around the country.
“The Republicans are having a very difficult time selling a bill they say is going to improve healthcare and access, when independent groups such as the Congressional Budget Office say it’s going to do just the opposite,” Toscano said in an interview with The Cavalier Daily. “We’ll see whether they’re willing to try to push this bill onto us when we don’t want it.”
Democratic 58th District candidate for the House of Delegates Kellen Squire, an emergency department nurse, spoke at the rally, along with Democratic 25th District candidate Angela Lynn. Squire said the bill puts additional pressure on emergency medical nurses.
“One of the reasons I’m doing this is because I’m a proud alumni of the University of Virginia,” Squire said. “If there’s one thing I learned at Mr. Jefferson’s University, it’s that he expected his graduates to never slink from doing the right thing, no matter how hard it was.”
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