US voters angry over healthcare repeal by Republicans

World Today

Many voters in the United States are furious over the prospect of losing their health coverage. This comes after last week’s controversial vote to repeal and replace ‘Obamacare,’ which was created to provide affordable healthcare services.

Town hall meetings across America between members of Congress and voters have resulted in angry confrontations.

CGTN’s Harry Horton reports.

A vote by House Republicans to replace former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act has lit a fuse among liberal activists.

In the lines outside Virginan Republican Congressman Dave Brat’s town hall, both supporters and protesters had one issue on their mind.

“Right now, I’m most worried about healthcare and not access to healthcare – they like to spin that, as if it’s a real thing – I’m talking about affordable healthcare,” said one voter.

Congressman Brat faced almost two hours of fiery questions, but insisted afterwards, his party’s healthcare plan was right for America.

But some Republicans are less confident, and have one eye nervously trained on next year’s congressional elections. Meanwhile, Democrats are hoping they can ride that wave of anger back to power in 2018.

Some of the protests at town hall meetings are organized not by the Democratic party, but by grassroots activists outraged at President Trump’s election.

“What I would love to see is voter turnout increase because we really have a shamefully low voter turnout in the U.S., especially in off-year elections. So that’s a big goal for us and a lot of that is energizing the public on issues that affect them,” Kirsten O’Nell, an activist with the group Indivisible Richmond said.

The U.S. presidential election was held more than six months ago, but the passion, energy and division in the country’s politics shows no sign of fading away.