Will Montclair Stand Up For Obamacare?

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Thousands of people in the Essex County area may lose their health insurance coverage if members of the U.S. House and Senate choose to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, reports say.

The Kaiser Family Foundation reported that there are about 20,000 Obamacare enrollees throughout New Jersey’s 11th congressional district, which includes several Essex County towns, NewJerseyHills stated.

The 11th district is represented by U.S. Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, and includes parts of Bloomfield, Caldwell, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Fairfield, Livingston, Montclair, North Caldwell, Nutley, Roseland, Verona, West Caldwell and West Orange.

Frelinghuysen has stated that he supports repealing Obamacare while his Republican colleagues figure out a replacement plan.

“Certainly there’s a real demand that we do something,” he recently told MyVerona.com. “We made a promise [to provide a new plan], but I do like the expression, the Hippocratic Oath: ‘Do no harm.’ So I think we’re going to proceed with caution.”

• See related article: 7 Things You Didn't Know Obamacare Has Done
• See related article: Mary Graham Sees Obamacare As Life-and-Death Struggle

But some of Frelinghuysen’s constituents – including pro-Obamacare group NJ 11th For Change – have been keeping the pressure on him to leave the ACA intact for the public good.

The group began organizing regular # FridayswithFrelinghuysen gatherings at the Congressman’s Morristown office after he allegedly declined to respond to their petition for a town hall-style meeting.

Their Jan. 20 meeting can be seen below.

Photo: YouTube screenshot

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