FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 23, 2022
Contact: WisDems Press (press@wisdems.org)
On Anniversary of ACA, WisDems Rally Outside Johnson’s Office As He Pledges to Fulfill Self-Serving Agenda of Repealing the ACA and Raising Costs on Working Families
Julie Buckholt, Wisconsinite who relies on the ACA: “[Johnson] doesn’t care that his actions make us live in fear every day – and I’ll tell you, we live in fear.”
MADISON, Wis. – Today, on the twelve year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, Wisconsin Democrats rallied outside of Ron Johnson’s office to protest his repeated, self-serving efforts to rip away key protections from Wisconsinites with pre-existing conditions and increase health care costs for Wisconsin families. The difference couldn’t be more clear: while Republicans continue to push this harmful agenda, President Biden and Democrats in Congress are working to lower costs for working families across the state.
Speakers noted Johnson’s long history of attacking Wisconsinites’ health care – including lobbying to dismantle the landmark law for years and voting against Democrats’ American Rescue Plan, which lowered health insurance premiums for working families across Wisconsin.
Julie Buckholt, Wisconsinite who relies on the ACA:
“When the ACA passed we were celebrating … we were given a second chance at life … We’ve watched for too long as Johnson has prioritized his self-serving agenda. He doesn’t care that his actions make us live in fear every day – and I’ll tell you, we live in fear. We know what that fear is. I don’t want to go back to that fear and I don’t want my children to feel that fear – we try to shelter them from that fear. I don’t want that to happen to them. I don’t want my children to feel like they have to go bankrupt at the beginning of their adult lives, and that’s what he’s going to be doing to them.”
State Democratic Assembly Leader Representative Greta Neubauer:
“Senator Johnson has shown no interest in lowering health care costs for Wisconsinites or further expanding access to coverage. He’s even described his time in the Senate as ‘particularly unsuccessful’ because he hasn’t been able to repeal the Affordable Care Act – that is not for lack of trying. And we know that he will not stop until he is out of office. My district, Racine, and all of us in Wisconsin deserve a U.S. Senator who is going to look forward and who is going to try to better the lives of their constituents. That is certainly not Ron Johnson [who] has failed to do that job.”
WisDems Chair Ben Wikler:
“So today is a celebration of the success of the Affordable Care Act and making critical steps on the long journey to ensuring that every American has the high quality and affordable health insurance coverage that they need. Yet while today is a celebration, it is also a warning. It’s a warning that if Ron Johnson and his Republican friends get power once again, they are coming for our health care. Americans rose up to stop them once before, and we will do it again.”
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