Shame on Representative Brat: Demo Against Anti-Healthcare Congressman

Today, Friday May 5th 2017, from 5-7pm, near the Glen Allen CVS (10901 West Broad Street, Glen Allen VA), there will be a demonstration against Representative David Brat of the 7th Congressional District. Yesterday, Brat voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act (the ACA, or Obamacare) and replace it with Trump's American Health Care Act (AHCA), which will allow states to rescind consumer protections for health insurance customers and end Medicaid expansion. The bill narrowly passed the House, and has gone on to the Senate. 

Effectively, this was a vote to strip millions of people of their health insurance coverage and allow insurance companies to charge more for less (here is a good summary from govtrack.us). It will most seriously affect women, those with illnesses or disabilities, and the elderly. Among other things, the AHCA ends fines for large employers who do not provide health insurance, allows states to end protections for people with pre-existing conditions and to repeal requirements that insurance companies cover basic services, and cuts $900 billion from Medicaid. This is expected to cause widespread loss of insurance, an increase in costs, and ultimately, deaths. 

The major problem that the public had with the ACA (besides its association with Obama, which made the law a major target of the Republican party) was the "individual mandate," which financially penalized people for not buying insurance while providing insufficient subsidization for those who couldn't afford it. The ACHA removes the tax penalty, but also substantially decreases subsidies to help people afford coverage and allows insurance companies to impose a surcharge of up to 30% the year following a lapse of coverage— essentially meaning that the individual mandate is not only intact, but much more severe, and the charges will go directly into the pockets of insurance companies (incentivizing them to find reasons to cancel your coverage every other year). 

Every Republican Virginia congressman except Barbara Comstock (10th District) voted with Brat. This means: Robert Wittman (1st District), Scott Taylor (2nd District), Thomas Garrett (5th District), Bob Goodlatte (6th District), and Morgan Griffith (9th District) all voted to make healthcare more expensive and less equitable. 

For more info, see this link.