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WILKES-BARRE — Outside the Stegmaier building on Wilkes-Barre Boulevard, protesters gathered with health care on their mind.
They were there as part of “Tuesdays with Toomey,” a weekly event held at offices for Senator Pat Toomey around the state aiming to increase lines of dialogue between the senator and his constituents.
Collyn Hinchey, of Wilkes-Barre, who organizes the gatherings outside Toomey’s city office, said the demonstrators attempt to bring a different topic to the senator’s attention each week.
“This week, the topic at all the offices is the AHCA,” Hinchey said.
The American Health Care Act, or the AHCA, is President Donald Trump’s proposed replacement for the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
The demonstrators were concerned about the ways in which Trump’s AHCA would affect their own insurance coverage.
“The ACA needed to be fixed,” said Roni Good, of Kingston. “But it didn’t need to be destroyed like this.”
Good believes the proposed cuts to Medicaid included in the reform bill would wreak havoc on many Americans.
“Elderly people won’t be able to be in nursing homes,” she said. “And then where will they go?”
According to Steve Kelly, Toomey’s press secretary, the senator believes it’s critical to replace the current health law.
“Obamacare has caused health care premiums and deductibles to skyrocket and choices to dwindle,” Kelly said in an email to the Times Leader. “Senator Toomey believes it is more urgent than ever that we repeal and replace Obamacare with health insurance that will be affordable, accessible, and in which Pennsylvanians can make decisions about their health rather than government bureaucrats.”
Another demonstrator, Vincent Gallo, makes the trip to the Wilkes-Barre office weekly from his home in Bethany, Wayne County. Gallo says Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, offers a unique line to the AHCA, as he is one of the senators drafting the Senate’s version of the bill.
“We feel we have a direct line to him,” Gallo said. “But he seems unresponsive.”
Hinchey said all of Toomey’s offices across the state have blocked the demonstrators from meeting with staffers, except for the Wilkes-Barre office.
“Toomey just seems out of contact, especially compared to Senator Casey,” Hinchey said.
She said “Tuesdays with Toomey” initially started as meetings with staffers, but eventually grew into demonstrations as Toomey’s offices began to turn people away.
Toomey’s staff, however, rejects that claim.
“Senator Toomey and his staff meet with constituents, which often includes protesters, across the state and in Washington on nearly a daily basis,” Kelly said in his email. “Claims to the contrary are wrong.”
“Senator Toomey met with protesters directly in NEPA at the end of April. The conversation was constructive and largely revolved around health care policy,” the press secretary explained. “He has also met with protesters in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Harrisburg and Washington, D.C.”
