"Die-In" held at Senator Rubio's office to protest the House healthcare bill
COURTESY: The Florida Times-Union
ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL Fox 35) - Floridians are showing their disapproval of the new House healthcare bill by staging a "die in" at Senator Rubio's Downtown Orlando office.
At noon on May 9th, a funeral-like setting will be created to illustrate the seriousness of passing a bill that threatens the coverage of 1.7 million Floridians who are on the Affordable Care Act. The bill also threatens those individuals covered by employee based plans.
Since the House bill is moving to the Senate, these Floridians are demanding that Senators put constituent's lives over partisan politics and ideology and listen to the stakeholders.
Organizer Melanie Gold states, "as the house bill passes to the Senator, clearly, Senators need to be reminded that this legislation is life and death not politics as usual." She continues to say, "when we are talking about states opting out of essential health benefits to help lower premiums, we are talking about artificially lowering premiums, because you are providing less coverage." She goes on to say "the current form of legislation is an assault on women with the potential to limit access to contraception, limit access to basic reproductive healthcare and increase cost of pregnancy."
Many Floridians are wondering why the GOP would even pass a bill that increases premiums, decreases coverage, and threatens Medicaid, but provides benefits for insurance company's executives and tax cuts for the wealthy. Floridians want to ensure that Senators do not make the same mistake, so they are holding a "die in" to make the point.