[On February 4] Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), one of the relatively few members of Congress who has held public town hall meetings in 2017, was beset by protesters in the city of Roseville, Calif. More than 1,000 people gathered in front of a venue that could seat 200, and many of those who got inside protested McClintock, a conservative who represents one of the state’s few safe Republican seats, for favoring the president’s executive orders on refugees and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

Amanda Barnes, a 28-year-old resident of Auburn, Calif., told McClintock she considered it an “act of God” that she was able to get on her mother’s health insurance five months before she was hit by a car, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. Barnes said at the time she was covered by the Obamacare provision allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance..

“If I had not had my mother’s insurance to cover my health care costs, I would have been over half million in debt just in the first three days,” she said, asking how McClintock would protect her health.

According to social media reports from attendees, the event was raucous; according to video clips taken in its aftermath, McClintock left under police protection as critics, many organized by the local branch of the Indivisible activist organization, followed closely. . . .
“As a diplomat would say, it was a frank exchange of views,” McClintock said after the event, adding that he will continue to meet with constituents. “It’s not their job to listen to me at the town hall; it’s my job to listen to them.”

Read more →

I’m talking personally here because this issue quickly becomes about as personal as it gets. I read there’s twenty to thirty million Americans depending on the ACA; even more on Medicare. I’m concerned about them on a policy level, and hope I feel compassion.
But this ACA & Medicare repeal talk –it’s not just “policy.” Not just about “them.”
It’s about “us.” Me. It will affect me & my family.
My not particularly unusual family.
Directly, and bigtime; not someday, but immediately, and probably catastrophically.
So the drive for repeal is toying with the fate of real people with real lives. All over the country.
Including me and my family. (And maybe yours too?)
The impact of any such repeal will be coming right at us. Directly.

Read more →