Around 100 show up to resist Republican repeal of Obamacare

Speakers also talked of the plan to defund Planned Parenthood.

Around 100 people at a rally Sunday in Cameron Park hoping to save the Affordable Care Act.

“I love Wisconsin,” La Crosse state rep. Jill Billings said at the event, deemed Save Our Healthcare across the country. “Where else could you get people to come out in January for a rally?”

A majority of Republicans in Congress this week began the process of repealing it using a budget maneuver that requires a bare majority in the Senate.

Saturday, Donald Trump told the Washington Post his goal was “insurance for everybody,” but did not reveal any specifics. The Post also wrote he vowed to force drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices in Medicare and Medicaid.

“They’re politically protected but not anymore,” he told the Post.

The ACA wasn’t the only thing discussed at the La Crosse rally. Along with the repeal-and-replace or repeal-and-wait, Republicans also are planning on defunding Planned Parenthood.

“This proposal is cruel and would devastate our state,” University of Wisconsin-La Crosse professor Beth Hartung told the crowd. “Without (it), most of the state’s most vulnerable patients will have no other healthcare provider to turn to – putting them at risk for most un-diagnosed cancers, STDs, HIV, unintended pregnancies.”

Hartung also argued teen pregnancies could also rise by 60 percent without Planned Parenthood’s availability. 

At a CNN town hall Friday, House Speaker and Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan talked of the plan.

“We don’t want to commit people’s taxpayer dollars to effectively funding something that they believe is morally unconscionable,” Ryan said.

Ryan was then informed that federal funding doesn’t go to Planned Parenthood or any other organization for abortion and said, “Right. “But, they get a lot of money and, and you know, money is fungible and it effectively floats these organizations …”

At the rally, Hartung also argued that teen pregnancies might rise more than 60 percent, if counseling by Planned Parenthood is not available to them.