With a Supreme Court decision on Obamacare looming, concerned citizens trekked to the U.S. Capitol yesterday with flags and signs in hand to protest President Obama’s health care law.
The Alexandria (Va.) Tea Party teamed up with the group Virginians for Quality Healthcare to voice disapproval with congressional exemptions to the Affordable Care Act and government subsidies provided by Obamacare.
The Supreme Court could decide the King v. Burwell case as early as today. At stake are Affordable Care Act subsidies for individuals in the 34 states that didn’t set up a state insurance exchange.
According to Chris Wright, an executive with the Alexandria Tea Party, multiple tea party rallies occurred across the nation. Here is what a few of them had to say.
“We think that [members of Congress] should be under Obamacare, like everyone else is. It’s our tax dollars going to pay for their subsidies,” protester Ron Kirby told The Daily Signal. (Photo: Samantha Reinis/The Daily Signal)
“This is supposed to be a constitutional republic where the people are sovereign. When you freeze privilege into law, that’s called aristocracy. We fought a revolution to get rid of aristocracy,” Wright said. “They should not be a special class of citizens that gets to set one set of rules for themselves and … force everyone else to live under another set of rules.” (Photo: Jessi Rapelje/The Daily Signal)
Protesters address their concerns with Obamacare to Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas. (Photo: Samantha Reinis/The Daily Signal)
“They make is so incredibly expensive that nobody can afford it. Then they turn around and say, ‘Oh, but we’ll help you.’ That’s insidious. That’s a dependency machine, and it’s deliberate,” Wright said.
![Doc Woods, a member of Virginians for Quality Healthcare, told The Daily Signal how his health care costs skyrocketed after the implementation of Obamacare. “I had a long-term health care plan that I had for many years. In 2010, as soon as Obamacare passed, they raised the rate 30 percent,” Woods said. “Two years later, [it raised] another 30 percent. ... They priced me out of the market.”](http://dailysignal.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2015-06-17-at-3.51.18-PM.png)
Doc Woods, a member of Virginians for Quality Healthcare, told The Daily Signal how his health care costs skyrocketed after the implementation of Obamacare. “I had a long-term health care plan that I had for many years. In 2010, as soon as Obamacare passed, they raised the rate 30 percent,” Woods said. “Two years later, [it raised] another 30 percent. … They priced me out of the market.” (Photo: Jessi Rapelje/The Daily Signal)
“I personally am a retired Army nurse, and after I retired I worked in the civilian sector as well,” Christy Hayes shared of her previous experience in health care. “To me, it’s not government’s place to take in and scoop up the private sector.” (Photo: Samantha Reinis/The Daily Signal)