Healthcare advocates to rally in L.A. to protect Affordable Care Act
Video by Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times
Hundreds of nurses, other healthcare workers and patients are expected to turn out at a noon rally to protest the national effort by Republican lawmakers to rescind the Affordable Care Act.
Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat who opposes the repeal, is scheduled to appear with healthcare activists outside Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center in Boyle Heights.
Organizers of the rally, which includes Service Employees International Union and other labor groups, warn that a repeal of the law without a replacement will strip coverage from 5 million Californians and throw the healthcare system into chaos.
The protest is one of several across the nation planned by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) in an effort to save the national healthcare system.
President-elect Donald Trump has said that he expects Congress to act swiftly to dismantle the healthcare law, predicting last week that a “repeal and replace” will occur “simultaneously.” House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has committed to having repeal and replace carried out this year.
Republicans in both the House and Senate voted last week to take the first step toward repealing the law, which was signed in 2010 by President Obama.
Twitter: @DavidZahniser
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