President Trump said Wednesday he will meet with “victims” of Obamacare on Wednesday in Ohio, as part of his effort to keep up pressure on Congress to pass legislation to repeal and replace the healthcare law.
“Getting ready to leave for Cincinnati, in the GREAT STATE of OHIO, to meet with ObamaCare victims and talk Healthcare & also infrastructure!” Trump tweeted.
Getting ready to leave for Cincinnati, in the GREAT STATE of OHIO, to meet with ObamaCare victims and talk Healthcare & also Infrastructure!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2017
One of the people Trump will meet is Raya Whalen, who owns a company with her husband Michael, PlayCare, an Ohio-based company that sells and installs playground equipment. According to the White House, the company offered its 15 employees healthcare, but their plan was deemed insufficient by the federal government after Obamacare became law.
Whalen was forced to leave her family doctor, and premiums on their new Obamacare plan rose to $800 a month, more than four times higher than their previous plan. The White House said the Whalens’ deductible rose to nearly $15,000.
Trump will also meet with Dan Withrow, president of CSS Distribution Group of Kentucky. A White House official said healthcare plans for this 11-employee company rose 150 percent, which forced the company to take on more and more of those costs instead of expansion and hiring.
Trump’s move to highlight problems with Obamacare comes as the Senate is struggling to pass a bill to partially repeal and replace the law. The House passed a bill to do that, and sent it to the Senate, but senators have said they would likely come up with their own bill.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday that he believes the Senate will vote on a bill “in the near future.”
