Activists rally at State House in support of Affordable Care Act

<p>Health care activists rallied at the New Jersey State House Tuesday as a show of support for the Affordable Care Act and to celebrate its failed repeal vote in Congress.</p>

News 12 Staff

Aug 2, 2017, 12:28 AM

Updated 2,599 days ago

Share:

Health care activists rallied at the New Jersey State House Tuesday as a show of support for the Affordable Care Act and to celebrate its failed repeal vote in Congress.
“We may have won this battle but this war is not over by any stretch of the imagination,” said Rep. Donald Norcross. “This is like a zombie that keeps coming back from the dead.”
President Donald Trump indicated that he may withhold subsidy payments to insurers, which would cause premiums to increase next year. He could also decline to enforce the mandate that most Americans have health insurance, which was dropped in Republicans’ health care proposals.
“We need to work toward making coverage more affordable and withholding payments would do just the opposite,” said New Jersey Citizens Action health care program director Maura Collingsgru.
The activists urged Congress to stop fighting over health care and to start fixing it.
The president, meanwhile is urging Congress to hold another repeal and replace vote against the ACA.
“These senators need to go to their Tuesday lunch huddle, decided how they are going to address this and then come out and say ‘This is what we are going to do and what we are going to send back to the House,’” says Republican Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn. “We need to get this done.”
Health care experts say that without a repeal of new replacement for the ACA, subscribers could see a shorter enrollment period this fall and less of an outreach.
“What consumers need to know is the ACA is still the law of the land,” Collingsgru says. “Your insurance is not going away, you still will be able to enroll come Nov. 1. You’ll be able to renew.”
A bipartisan group on Capitol Hill called the “Problem Solvers Caucus” says they are working on health care compromises. The caucus includes New Jersey Reps. John Gottheimer and Leonard Lance