January 12, 2017 Approximately thirty people protested outside Congressman Lee Zeldin’s Patchogue office Thursday morning. The protest was arranged by 1199 SEIU and L.I. Progressive Coalition to object to Congressman Zeldin’s support for repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as Obamacare. The protesters want Congressman Zeldin to commit to not voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act before a replacement plan is in place. In Congressman Zeldin’s district 23,100 residents are covered under Obamacare.
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The Congress has been sending mixed messages about whether Obamacare will be repealed immediately without a replacement plan in place. Members of the public have been urging their representatives to maintain the parts of the AFA that prevent insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions and to allow young adults to stay on their parents plan until they are 26 years old.
Congressman Zeldin’s office released this statement about the AFA:
“Obamacare has been nothing short of a disaster for countless hardworking families and our economy. The system has failed and it’s only going to get worse. Obamacare has resulted in higher premiums, higher deductibles, lost doctors, and cancelled policies, among many other challenges. Businesses on Long Island and across the nation have been forced to reduce their workforce, cut hours, and even go out of business. Even worse, roughly one third of the counties in the U.S. have only one choice within the exchange, meaning there is no competition in the marketplace whatsoever. With the collapse of Health Republic in New York, which left over 200,000 individuals and businesses in New York without insurance coverage unexpectedly, as well as the collapse of dozens of other co-ops across the country, it has become increasingly clear that this law is deeply flawed.
In order to fix healthcare in America, we must repeal this flawed law, stabilize skyrocketing premiums and provide relief to hardworking Americans. There should be a stable transition to a new reality that will work better and make healthcare costs affordable, relieving taxpayers of the financial burdens under this failed policy, and give patients more choices, while still continuing to cover Americans with pre-existing conditions and allowing children to stay on their parent’s policy. This is a multi-step process which is expected to begin this week. While moving to patient centered healthcare that gives Americans access to quality affordable care, I, along with my Republican colleagues, remain committed to providing relief to those struggling with the effects of Obamacare.”
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At the march there were six people supporting Congressman Zeldin’s position on repealing the ACA. The sense of the three people interviewed by Smithtown Matters was that the ACA was a failure. It was considered too expensive. One man who declined to give his name was angry that $800 billion was taken from medicare to fund the program. A woman named Kim was opposed to ACA because of the power it gave to the insurance companies, who, she said, were interested in profits at the expense of the patient. Kim went on to say that too many physicians felt pressure to order unnecessary tests and pressure to see more patients meant less time with each patient.
Republicans in the U.S. Congress and President Elect Donald Trump have emphasized their intention to dismantle the ACA. Eunic Ortiz, director of communications for SEIU 1199 said the union will continue to speak out.