The same Republican politicians who are planning on repealing the Affordable Care Act are doing everything to avoid potentially embarrassing confrontations with their constituents who will be impacted by their actions.

Although 10 Republican legislators have held in-person town hall meetings since the start of 2017, only one — Rep. James F. Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin — has scheduled any events for the future, according to The Washington Post.

“In this day and age, real-life town halls are very dangerous for all but the most seasoned politicians,” John Feehery, a former senior House Republican leadership aide, told the Post. “I think John McCain can get away with it and a few others, but most should stick to office hours, really good constituent service or tele-town halls.”

There are already signs that Republican congressmen would experience a major backlash if they faced their own constituents. Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado had to exit an event on Saturday out of a back door due to chanting protesters, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington faced shouts of “save our health care” during an event in her district on Monday, and — perhaps most memorably — on Friday House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin was confronted on national television by a cancer survivor who insisted that the Affordable Care Act had saved his life.

Republicans have a great deal to lose if they repeal the Affordable Care Act without installing a replacement that protects the 22 million Americans who will otherwise lose their health insurance. There are 6.3 million people in Republican districts who enrolled due to the marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act — compared to only 5.2 million who reside in Democratic districts.

When the Affordable Care Act was first up for debate in the summer of 2009, Democratic legislators who supported the bill memorably faced hostile town hall meetings of their own. These included Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, who had a constituent accuse him of wanting to deny coverage to his son with cerebral palsy; Rep. David Scott of Georgia, who snapped at a man confronting him about the bill; Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida, who had to keep dozens of protesters out of the room where her town hall meeting was being held; and Rep. Tim Bishop of New York, who was confronted with a mob of angry protesters at his town hall event.


Source: Republicans have discovered the solution to avoiding constituents angry about the Affordable Care Act repeal – Salon.com

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