Several hundred people — primarily women — gathered to meet Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN) of Indiana’s 5th District during her one hour Connect event at the Anderson Impact Center in Anderson, Indiana. The crowd was cordial and polite with many like-minded individuals and inspiring stories.
Chants of “Save Our Healthcare” could be heard outside the building and were taken up at various times during the event. There was a 30 minute wait just to get a name tag and number to join the crowd waiting in the gymnasium to see Rep. Brooks. From there, groups of 10 people formed for single issues like the ACA, ethics concerns, the Muslim Ban, women’s rights and more. Several people, who weren’t part of Ms. Brooks’ staff, passed out forms to request a meeting in the form of a town hall.
I joined one of the ACA groups and we were ushered in to see Ms. Brooks for three minutes. Half of our group were recording the meeting on their cell phones. A cancer survivor who underwent cancer treatment is insured under the ACA expressed her heartfelt concern she would lose her health insurance if the ACA was repealed. Ms. Brooks did her Frank Luntz song and dance about “repair” (the new conservative buzzword to describe repeal and replace) to keep those with pre-existing conditions covered and not “take away coverage”. The smell of bullshit elicited a hostile reaction from the group. A young lady was concerned she would be dropped from her parent’s coverage and would be denied health insurance coverage or face exorbitant premiums due to a pre-existing condition.
Our group of 10 people agreed that without the individual mandate, the ACA does not work and falls apart. Ms. Brooks said people shouldn’t be forced to by insurance and nearly every person in our group chimed in that we are required to buy auto insurance. Ms. Brooks said they were looking to foster competition and this would drive costs down. It was pointed out that selling policies across state lines won’t bring costs down but would increase junk policies. Ms. Brooks said thousands of people would rather pay a penalty than buy insurance, which was met with the fact that 22 million people now have health insurance. Ms. Brooks said they (Congress) were working on this and it was pointed out they have had seven years to come up with something viable. While we were ushered out, some aired complaints about the meeting format and demanded a town hall meeting.
Rep. Brooks was gracious with her time and stayed longer than the designated hour to meet the hundreds of people waiting, but it appears some individuals who were in line did not get the opportunity after waiting for two and a half hours. The overarching concern among the people waiting to talk with Rep. Brooks was how much the United States has changed in two short weeks and how that change is destroying our country.