Wednesday morning in Eugene U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Congressman Peter DeFazio rallied with citizens against the GOP effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.
The people who gathered outside Eugene’s federal building had a variety of concerns about the latest Republican Senate proposal, such as its effects on women, low income people, the elderly and the disabled. For some participants, like Megan Greiner (who uses a wheelchair), the bill could have life-altering consequences.
“Personally it’s important because if the bill goes through, then my whole life would change,” says Greiner. “For one thing, my caregivers would not be paid. My insurance would not cover my prescriptions.”
The Senate Health bill includes deep cuts to Medicaid, which covers one in five Americans and puts the majority of its dollars towards people with disabilities. Before the rally, members of the group Indivisible Eugene staged a “tombstone visual” at the site, laying on the side walk and holding up cardboard tombstones with slogans like “Killed by GOP Kindness” and “Death by Denial.”