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Wood County Indivisible discusses changes to Affordable Care Act

Photo by Jeffrey Saulton Jeanne Peters, an organizer with Wood County Indivisible, introduces the empty chairs for area representatives at a meeting sponsored by the group concerning the possible repeal of the ACA and its proposed replacement.

PARKERSBURG — About 60 individuals concerned with possible changes in health care met in a town hall style meeting Thursday at the Parkersburg Municipal Building.

Organized by Wood County Indivisible, the first part of the meeting was individuals posing questions to chairs reserved for U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Capito, R-W.Va., and U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va. All had been invited and a spokesperson for the group said Manchin and McKinley replied citing scheduling conflicts and no response was received from Capito.

Kylie Schlemmer, spokesperson for the group, said the purpose of the meeting was to establish a line of communication with senators and congressmen.

“There’s a lot of things going on with the new administration being in place and the biggest topic of interest locally is health care and AHCA, the proposed replacement for the ACA,” she said.

In light of Manchin’s announcement in Martinsburg he will not support the bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Schlemmer said any support is important.

“Any support from our members in Congress to not implement the proposed replacement is good,” she said. “We have a lot of members who would be personally affected, they are using Obamacare — their lives depend on it.”

One of the first questions posed was from Sarah Townsend, Washington, W.Va., concerning the opiate overdose problem locally.

“We are a poor state and we need the ACA to continue providing us the mental illness treatment, but the Republican care bill eliminates that,” she said. “So my question to Sen. Capito, if she was here, what are you going to do to ensure that we keep our substance abuse and mental illness treatment to solve our heroin crisis?”

Parkersburg resident Julie Schleier, of Parkersburg, posed a question regarding costs of treatment.

After she fell and broke her back in 2013, she was diagnosed with a genetic disorder which is causing her joints to fuse. She said the condition is fatal.

Under the proposed replacement her medication may cost her as much as $8,000 monthly, she said.

“Without health care, my body will fuse together,” Schleier said. “My ribcage will keep fusing until my lungs collapse.”

Others asked questions about how the proposed plan will make health insurance affordable after subsidies are removed and how the plan would affect those with pre-existing conditions.

Other speakers at the meeting were:

* “Your Health Care Benefits After the ACA” by Jim Rapp, a resident of Marietta.

* “How Repeal of the ACA Affects Coverage for West Virginians” by Lisa Diehl, West Virginia for Affordable Health Care.

* “Women’s Health Care Under the Newly Proposed American Health Care Act” by Emily Thompson of Planned Parenthood. Federal funding is discontinued for Planned Parenthood in the Republican proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act.

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