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Orlando Rally Planned Against Obamacare Replacement Bill

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
Satori World Medical
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

A rally is planned Thursday at U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s office against the American Health Care Act.

The bill is the planned replacement to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. One group speaking out is Planned Parenthood. Federal money is already barred from being spent on abortions.

But the American Health Care Act would cut all money to Planned Parenthood. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that cutting Planned Parenthood funding would save $156 million over a decade, but would leave 15 percent of its patients without health care and result in “several thousand” more births.

“We are in deep opposition to that concept because it impacts the most vulnerable of our patients,” Eskamani said. “And we’re going to be out there tomorrow speaking to this and really pushing back against this dangerous legislation.”

Eskamani is helping to organize the rally, and said one of those speaking is a Pulse survivor.

“This is a person in our community that has suffered enough,” she said. “The fact that he just got approved for Medicaid and that’s his access to health care and now it’s at risk with these proposals we see from party leadership, it’s just not right. We really need to make sure we’re protecting all Floridians, including those most vulnerable among us.”

Central Florida’s House members are mixed on the legislation: Republican Dennis Ross is a definite yes, all the House Democrats are a no. Republican Bill Posey is a no without changes, and the New York Times reports that Republican Dan Webster has concerns and is leaning against it.

Health News Florida reporter Abe Aboraya works for WMFE in Orlando. He started writing for newspapers in high school. After graduating from the University of Central Florida in 2007, he spent a year traveling and working as a freelance reporter for the Seattle Times and the Seattle Weekly, and working for local news websites in the San Francisco Bay area. Most recently Abe worked as a reporter for the Orlando Business Journal. He comes from a family of health care workers.