Obamacare Overhaul Opponents Seek Help From Rep. Mimi Walters

SANTA ANA, CA — Opponents of the recently proposed overhaul of Obamacare will appeal again Wednesday to Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Irvine, to use her position on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to oppose the legislation.

Those calls will likely fall on deaf ears as the congresswoman said she intends to keep her party's vow to repeal and replace President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement.

"We are keeping our promise to repeal Obamacare and implement a better system," Walters said.

"The plan put forward by Congressman (Greg) Walden will put forth real solutions that will allow Americans to have healthcare plans that work for them, not Washington. You can read the bill online at readthebill.gop."

A group calling itself Fight4OurHealth believe the Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees will "force a vote" on Wednesday "even though their complicated and destructive bill was released on Monday."

The activists are concerned the bill will be approved before experts can determine how it will affect the number of insured in the country.

The activists went to Walters' office in Irvine on Tuesday.

Ken Grubbs, a spokesman for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, said Rohrabacher has not taken a public position on the bill.

Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, predicted the bill would leave fewer Americans insured.

"The GOP health care bill announced yesterday is anything but," Lowenthal said.

It will literally reshape health care so that fewer people are covered and coverage costs more. Just one example: it phases out the Medicaid expansion and decimates Medicaid as we know it.

With crushing cuts and per capita caps, the GOP bill will hurt the 70 million poor Americans, more than 12 million in California alone, who rely on Medicaid. Seniors with long-term care needs, Americans with disabilities, pregnant women, and children are among the groups who will see their coverage and services cut.

We should not rush to take up this bill until (the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office) reviews and lets Congress know actual costs and impacts of the bill."

City News Service

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