Protestors Rally Against GOP Health Care Plan In High Point

On Tuesday, a group of about forty protesters gathered at the High Point office for Republican U.S. Senator Thom Tillis. They ranged in age from infants to the elderly. Some waved American flags, and others carried signs reading “Health Care Is A Human Right,” “Trumpcare Kills,” and “Health Care Not Wealth Care.”

Elizabeth Verseman is diabetic, on disability, and the primary caregiver for her mother who is recovering from uterine cancer. Verseman says they rely on the Affordable Care Act, and fear it will be lost if the new healthcare plan passes the Senate.

“We need these doctors that we go to,” says Verseman. “They give us medicines that keep us alive, that help us to get healthy so we don't have to be on medicine. When you take away health care coverage, you're only going to only increase cost in other areas. I just don't understand why on earth people want to do that to other human beings.”

A vote on a Republican-led health care bill to replace the Affordable Care Act has been delayed until after the July 4th recess. It's proved challenging to pass the measure. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released last week shows that slightly more than one third of GOP legislators approve of the House Health Care Bill. The same poll shows nearly three quarters of Republicans support repealing the Affordable Care Act. 

“Senator Burr has said that he will vote for the [Senate health care bill], even though the [Congressional Budget Office] score shows that 22 million more Americans will not have health care," says Progress North Carolina Executive Director Gerrick Brenner. “Senator Tillis has not really said where he is on this. In the past, he has said that he supports a health care bill that will have — if not the same amount of people insured — more. This bill clearly is not that. They're trading deep cuts to Medicaid for deep tax cuts for people at the top.”

A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released Wednesday shows that only 17 percent of all Americans disapprove of the Senate Republican's health care bill. 55 percent say they disapprove, while a quarter say they didn't know enough about the measure to have an opinion.