Arkansans visit D.C. to urge 'no' on Senate health care bill

3 activists get no promises

WASHINGTON -- Members of the American Heart Association from Arkansas spent Tuesday on Capitol Hill, urging their Republican lawmakers not to pass the Senate version of the American Health Care Act.

They received a cordial welcome, they said, but got no assurances. They left town uncertain whether their state's two U.S. senators supported or opposed the key legislation.

The three Arkansans were among 330 activists from 46 states who converged on the Capitol. In addition to opposing the new health care bill, they also requested increased funding for heart and stroke research at the National Institutes of Health. Other health-related legislation was also on the agenda.

Keturah White, a substitute teacher from Bentonville, said she made the journey, in part, because "heart disease and stroke run in my family."

She's overcome her own health challenges, she said, with help from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

[INTERACTIVE: Compare House, Senate bills with Affordable Care Act]

"When I was 26, I had three strokes in 24 hours, and after that I lost my job and I was unable to afford health care," she said. As she struggled to recover, White said, she was hampered by the loss of her medical insurance.

"I didn't have coverage to go get checked out and make sure everything was OK," she said.

[EMAIL UPDATES: Get free breaking news alerts, daily newsletters with top headlines delivered to your inbox]

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, she was able to obtain insurance once she returned to the workforce, she said.

"I honestly don't know if I would be here to talk to you today if I did not get insurance," she said.

Tina Winham, who works for a Wal-Mart supplier in Northwest Arkansas, said she traveled to Washington because she wanted "to make sure that everybody has access to great care and affordable care."

The Rogers woman encounters people, through her work at a women's shelter, who lack health insurance or who might lose it if the Affordable Care Act were repealed.

"I think I'm pretty blessed and my family's pretty blessed with a wonderful health care package, but I don't believe that's true for some of my extended family or people that I [see]," she said.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office this week estimates that the number of uninsured will climb by 22 million by 2026 if the Senate bill is enacted.

Winham, White and another Arkansas resident, American Heart Association spokesman Alexis Simms, visited the Hill on a momentous day. With several GOP senators objecting to the legislation, Republican leaders announced that they would delay a vote until after next week's Independence Day recess.

The women spoke with U.S. Sen. John Boozman in the morning and had scheduled an afternoon appointment with U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton.

But the meeting with Cotton was canceled after President Donald Trump summoned Senate Republicans to the White House to discuss health care.

The women met instead with Cotton's staff. U.S. Rep. Steve Womack also greeted them.

The American Heart Association is one of several groups working to derail the Republican-backed legislation. On Tuesday, the American Diabetes Association, the American Lung Association, the March of Dimes, the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network and others ran a full-page ad in Politico, the Washington political publication, urging people to speak out.

Boozman posted a comment on Facebook that read in part: "I am working with my colleagues on possible amendments that will improve the existing framework as we continue to work towards improving healthcare for all Americans."

A Section on 06/28/2017

RELATED ARTICLE

http://www.arkansas…">Senate's vote on health bill put on pause

Upcoming Events