Congresswoman Lowey Holds Healthcare Town Hall Meeting
Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Harrison), held two Healthcare Town Halls Saturday to discuss Republican legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with a new proposal known as the American Healthcare Act (AHCA).
The Westchester town hall was held at White Plains High School. White Plains resident Paul Schwarz, representing the League of Women Voters of White Plains, moderated the panel discussion.
Congresswoman Lowey is adamant that the right path for Congress to take is to work in a bipartisan manner with the existing ACA to fix problems and make improvements. “I cannot think of any reason to vote for it (the AHCA),” Lowey said, adding that she hopes town halls being held across the country will enlighten Republicans.
Discussion leading to a vote Thursday on the new healthcare bill is taking place on the House floor this week.
The White Plains panel included Beth Finkel from AARP, New York, Lisa Allison with the NYS Dept. of Health, Jeffrey Gold of the Healthcare Association of NYS and Larry Levine of Blythedale Children’s Hospital.
Potential loss of coverage, reductions in coverage, increased costs of insurance, loss of subsidies to purchase insurance, and harm to Medicaid and Medicare were discussed by the panel with focus on seniors and children.
During the Q&A session at the close of presentations, Fr. Gawain de Leeuw of Grace Episcopal Church in White Plains asked what the repercussions would be to Planned Parenthood. An audience member shouted out that he was Satan and the applause in Fr. Gawain’s favor was very strong.
Congresswoman Lowey expressed her support for Planned Parenthood and said removing funding from the program would put many women’s health in jeopardy.
Senior healthcare cuts were also of concern amongst members of the audience. Finkel, representing AARP said people between the ages of 50 and 64 would be hurt the most by the proposed plan and would pay the highest premiums.
Lowey said the new plan had not been given enough time for proper study and emphasized that constituents not only in New York where the ACA had done well, but in other parts of the country had to contact their representatives to let them know what they want.
