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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

CO Groups Challenge Sen. Gardner on Affordable Care Act Repeal

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Monday, January 9, 2017   

DENVER -- As Congress moves to repeal the Affordable Care Act, proponents of the health care law are taking their case to Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner's doorstep, literally. A coalition plans to gather outside the Republican senator's Denver and Greeley offices at noon on Tuesday.

Adela Flores-Brennan with the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative said they will deliver a petition with more than 1,000 signatures from Coloradans urging Gardner "not to gamble with their health care."

"Our state's economy and the health and financial security of thousands of working Colorado families is in jeopardy if we repeal the Affordable Care Act without a comprehensive plan in place to provide quality, affordable health care,” Flores-Brennan said.

In a national Republican address, Gardner promised that repealing Obamacare will be a priority, citing rising insurance premiums and canceled plans. But a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll found only one-in-five Americans wants to see the ACA repealed before a replacement plan is put forward.

Flores-Brennan said if Congress makes good on its promise to repeal, nearly 600,000 Coloradans would be among the 20 million Americans at risk of losing their health insurance.

"And that includes people who have gained coverage through Medicaid expansion as well as through reforms in the individual insurance market, and people who are now able to buy coverage or afford coverage because they have access to premium subsidies,” she said.

Flores-Brennan said she acknowledges that some criticisms of the health insurance market are valid - particularly the rate increases year-after-year.

“But,” she said, "the appropriate action would be to see what kinds of changes we can put in place to help keep costs down, and to help keep the rates of insurance from increasing."

A vote in the U.S. Senate to cut funding for the ACA is expected by midweek, and if the resolution passes, it will move to the House. Congressional leaders hope to deliver a final bill to the White House by February 20.



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