obamacare. after all, the nonpartisan congressional budget office has pointed out that if you do that, 32 million americans would lose access to affordable coverage. and millions more will lose the patient protections that jimmy kimmel has been talking about. so we re not going to blow it up. but we did answer senator mccain s call to work in a bipartisan manner to try to improve and strengthen the affordable care act exchanges, because they re not perfect. they need work. and senator lamar alexander and senator patty murray had been in very good faith discussions and negotiations to do just that. and as they got closer, what happened is republicans got nervous that they were actually going to do something to improve the affordable care act, and they went into a full alert and decided to pull the plug on it. that s when paul ryan said no, house republicans will never pass that compromise.
destroy the affordable care act, obamacare. after all, the nonpartisan congressional budget office has pointed out that if you do that, 32 million americans would lose access to affordable coverage. and millions more will lose the patient protections that jimmy kimmel has been talking about. so we re not going to blow it up. but we did answer senator mccain s call to work in a bipartisan manner to try to improve and strengthen the affordable care act exchanges, because they re not perfect. they need work. and senator lamar alexander and senator patty murray had been in very good faith discussions and negotiations to do just that. and as they got closer, what happened is republicans got nervous that they were actually going to do something to improve the affordable care act, and they went into a full alert and decided to pull the plug on it. that s when paul ryan said no, house republicans will never
for the states to do that which is best for that state. if you re in a state which is not expanded medicaid, you re going to do great. and all those lower income texans, floridians, mainers, virginians, missouriens will have dollars in their state to get health insurance they currently do not have. if you re a state which has expanded medicaid, we do our best to hold you harmless. we don t want to hurt folks. we run it through the chip program. i hear no one complain about the chip program. the chip program is something on a bipartisan basis has been recognized to be an effective way to provide access to quality care to those in need. we take it through the chip program. we continue patient protections. whatever waiver a state wishes to have, they must ensure the secretary that they continue to provide adequate and affordable coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. that is our backstop. we preserve mental health parity, but ultimately we give
senators to do the right thing by their constituents, not by the party bosses in washington. what do you expect to hear today from these residents? well, i ve been hearing all week from people who are justifiably fearful about losing access to affordable care. and we know in maryland, that s at least half a million people who will directly be hurt and hundreds of thousands of more who will lose their patient protections, people with preexisting conditions, going down the line, will have trouble. and that s just here in maryland. so, people are very worried, and they want to know what they can do. and here in maryland, we re asking them, contact friends and neighbors, no matter where you are in the country, if you re a part of a doctor s group or a nurse s group, make sure the nurses and doctors in these other states are contacting their senators. to your point, i think a couple of the numbers, i believe maryland the number of uninsured is down to 7% in the state. 300,000 more hav
congressman tom mcarthur. the new jersey republican who brought trumpcare back from the dead by authoring that amendment that gave states a way to opt out of obamacare patient protections. in an area of his district in which he got only 12% of the vote, congressman macarthur held a marathon five-hour town hall. how long are you and your fellow republicans going to defend this american nightmare? you, mitch mcconnell, how long? open your eyes! folks, i didn t come here to defend our president tonight. i came to answer your questions. it sounds like you did! my wife was diagnosed with cancer when she was 40 years old. she beat it, but every day, every day she lives with it. my children both have pre-existing conditions from birth, one cardiac, one thyroid. you have been the single greatest threat to my family in the entire world.