Hundreds of people rallied in New Haven on Wednesday against a health care bill that could impact thousands in Connecticut.
Republican lawmakers in Washington, D.C. are working to shore up more support for the controversial plan. A vote that was scheduled for this week has already been put on hold.
Sally Grossman held her 4-month-old daughter, Sadie, on the steps of the Yale School of Medicine, recalling an ordeal four years ago, when she said she went into pre-term labor at 28 weeks with her son.
"I think back to that day, when I went into the hospital and they whisked me away into labor and delivery and they started pumping me full of medication," said Grossman, who lives in Windsor. She said doctors were able to stop the birth and her son was born healthy weeks later. Grossman said Medicaid was then and is now the primary way her family's health care gets covered.
Medicaid funding would see deep cuts if Senate Republicans in Washington pass their current health care bill.
"It's really personal to me," Grossman said.
The battle over health care is spilling over into senators' home offices nationwide and spurring rallies, like Wednesday's in New Haven.
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"I hope that this issue is one that crosses partisan lines because it really is about everyone," said Melody Oliphant, one of the event organizers.
At the White House on Wednesday, President Donald Trump was confident that a senate bill would pass.
"We're going to have a big surprise," said President Trump. "We have a great health care package."
Some Republicans said that it is time to reach outside their own party.
"I think we should work with Democrats," Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said.
"It's something we should've done from the beginning," Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said.
If the Republican bill passes as written, Governor Dannel Malloy's office said more than 220,000 people in Connecticut could become uninsured by 2026.
"It's affecting real people and it's affecting me," Grossman said. "It's affecting my daughter. It's affecting my family. It's affecting people like me."
