New Britain Residents Rally Against Republican Health Care Repeal

Press Pool Story

New Britain residents were among the hundreds of people who rallied at the State Capitol on January 15th to oppose Republican plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a move that would cost many New Britain residents their health care coverage and weaken health care for many more.

The rally was called by U.S. Senator Christopher Murphy (D-CT), U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty (D-5) and two other Connecticut members of Congress.

“The enthusiasm of Republicans in Congress for taking away health insurance from millions of Americans is unfathomable,” said Murphy on January 12th, criticizing a move by Congressional Republicans setting the stage for repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), known commonly as “Obamacare”. The move would cost 30 million Americans their health care coverage directly, while denying millions more coverage protection under the ACA against discrimination based on pre-existing conditions and lifetime healthcare benefits limits.

Obamacare provided a benefit for the 2,148,000 Connecticut residents with employer-sponsored health care by reducing the amount of health care premium increases from 7.4% each year between 2000 and 2010 to 4.2% between 2010-2015.

“Repealing the ACA with no plan for replacement will hurt tens of millions of people in very real ways,” Murphy added. “I don’t understand what the rush is. Why do this kind of damage to people and repeal the health care law right now? I’ll keep making that case and continue fighting this repeal every single step of the way.”