U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., held a public hearing in Hartford on Monday to highlight the fact that the Senate Republican health care bill is being drafted in secret.
Blumenthal says he wants to make sure the views of Connecticut healthcare advocates make it into the Senate record.
The senator got a rousing cheer from the roomful of healthcare advocates as he vowed that he and his Democratic colleagues would make sure the Republican’s American Health Care Act doesn’t make it into law.
“We will use every tool, every means at our disposal to fight this measure.”
Speaker after speaker condemned congressional Republican efforts to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, and replace it with the AHCA. There was emotional testimony from Michelle Virshup, an attorney who was born with a rare immune disorder that required transplant surgery. Virshup says she probably would not have made it through law school without the ACA.
“Without the ACA, I would not have had access to the treatment that kept me alive while a donor was found or the ability to pay for the transplant and the recovery period after.”
Jennifer Kelly has a 21-year-old daughter who is addicted to heroin. She’s concerned Republicans are cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from Medicaid. Kelly says this would be devastating to people dependent on Medicaid to pay for their opioid addiction treatment.
“In a system where families are already begging for help, this would be a tremendous step backwards.”
State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, who used to be Connecticut’s health care advocate, says there should be a public option now that the two remaining insurers in Connecticut’s health care exchange are threatening to leave because of uncertainty in Washington.
“A public option will insure, regardless of what happens in Washington, that everyone in Connecticut, irrespective of age, would have access to high quality health insurance through Connecticut’s individual market.”
Blumenthal says he’ll enter the testimony into the Senate record.
“I hope this will be an example or model for others because we are having no hearings. There is no bill. There’s no text. There’s no transparency or opportunity to be heard.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has been criticized for writing the Senate version of the AHCA behind closed doors. McConnell is hoping to get the measure through the Senate before the Fourth of July recess. Blumenthal says he might have another hearing in Connecticut before then.
