Rhode Islanders rally to fight repeal of Obamacare

By Alana Cerrone

acerrone@abc6.com

@Alana_Cerrone

"I can just tell you with certainty – it’s working in Rhode Island."

That’s the message Governor Gina Raimondo and Rhode Island’s congressional delegation are sending to Republicans in Washington after their vote Friday to repeal Obamacare.

"I’m afraid of my prescriptions going up. Because I take a lot of prescriptions."

People like Barbara Capobianco are afraid to go back to a world before Obamacare.

She used to pay over $2,000 a year for her medicine. But now she’s one of more than 15,000 seniors in Rhode Island who have saved on prescriptions under the Affordable Care Act.

"It’s healthcare it doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat, or a Republican, if you get sick you get sick."

Then there’s the 8,000 young people under 26 who were able to stay on their parents’ insurance, and 465,000 others who can’t be denied insurance because of a pre-existing condition. Overall, state officials say Rhode Island’s uninsured rate has dropped from 13% to 4.5%.

Gina Rombley says she and her family have reaped the benefits as well. "My daughter depends on it – she has an amazing pediatrician now and I don’t think I’d be able to take her to this amazing pediatrician if it wasn’t for the ACA."

While some Rhode Island lawmakers say they admit parts of the system may need improvement, they refuse to let universal healthcare be taken away. "It’s like asking someone to jump out of an airplane with no parachute and saying trust me we’ll build the parachute for you while you’re falling," says Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. House Speaker Paul Ryan says the repeal will definitely happen in President-Elect Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office.

© WLNE-TV 2017