Chicagoans Continue To Keep Pressure Over GOP Healthcare Bill
By aaroncynic in News on Jun 28, 2017 7:00PM
People who will be harmed most by the GOP healthcare plan hold a vigil at Daley Plaza on Tuesday, June 26th. Photo by Aaron Cynic/Chicagoist.
“There shouldn’t be anything preventable that is allowed to happen to a country where it is known that 29,000 people will die every year,” Kelly Hayes of Lifted Voices, the group that organized the vigil, said. “No government can justify its own power if it would knowingly make a decision that would cause 29,000 people within its own borders to die.”
Representatives and other allies of the Trump administration have made it their mission to undo the Affordable Care Act and replace it with their own legislation which they say is somehow better, despite the fact it would kick 23 million Americans nationwide off their health insurance. According to the LA Times, a report from the Annals of Internal Medicine shows the loss of health insurance would cause an additional 29,000 deaths per year. Meanwhile, the Republican bill also gives large tax breaks to the already exceedingly wealthy.
Several attendees described struggles they and their families faced due to inadequate healthcare. Many pointed out that while the Affordable Health Care Act has its flaws, the GOP’s plan does nothing to fix them and instead, makes accessing necessary health services for the poor, people with disabilities, and others so difficult that lives will be lost.
“I can tell you as someone who is now one of the last three remaining people on my father’s side of the family who is alive—having your family wiped out by inadequate healthcare is a perfect example of how people do not make it all the time,” said a woman who identified herself as Zaynab. “What has been clearly is not enough, and if what little gets taken away it will make things significantly worse.”
Two attendees of a vigil to oppose the GOP healthcare bill discuss what their next steps in voicing their opposition will be. Photo by Aaron Cynic/Chicagoist.
“We have people barely holding on from social security to medicare and you’re going to tell us ‘hey, f*** what you got going on?’ said Rachel, who said she has disabilities. “Yeah, Obamacare is decent for what it’s covering. In a world class city, a world class country we shouldn’t have people making hard decisions—do I pay for meds or do I eat this week? Do I pay for things that are going to keep me alive and functioning on a daily basis?”
“They try to sell so called reforms like this by saying ‘don’t worry it won’t happen to you, it will be those people,” said Andy Thayer of the Gay Liberation Network. “In this case they mean disabled people. I may be standing on two legs right now but at one point in our lives, almost all of us are going to be disabled. And if we’re lucky, all of us are going to get older.”
"It's not lost on me the people who say 'this is the best we can do' are politicians that have health care" #HealthCareVigil #TrumpCare pic.twitter.com/Fj4j5XXYTn
— Aaron Cynic (@aaroncynic) June 28, 2017
Hayes, Thayer, and others urged attendees to do everything in their power to put pressure on both Republican and Democratic lawmakers to put a stop to the bill.
“Lets remember that they took it off the table for all the wrong reasons,” said Thayer. “It wasn’t bad enough, didn’t cut enough people, didn’t give enough subsidies for the already wealthy. Let’s not get complacent about that.”
Wednesday afternoon saw a second demonstration at the Thompson Center organized by the group Indivisible Chicago. Hundreds rallied in the plaza outside, chanting "Trumpcare has got to go." The group also delivered a petition to Governor Bruce Rauner demanding he openly oppose the GOP healthcare plan.
Hey, hey @GovRauner can you hear us?! #ILSaveACA pic.twitter.com/bDfHvYnCVy
— Indivisible Chicago (@IndivisibleChi) June 28, 2017
This is the list of signatures we are delivering to @govrauner #ILSaveACA pic.twitter.com/h8sfmHZX2A
— Indivisible Chicago (@IndivisibleChi) June 28, 2017