DAVENPORT, Iowa - Local supporters of Obamacare are sending a message to Congress, have something in place before you get rid of the Affordable Care Act.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has pledged that Republicans will finish legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare this year, but hospitals and doctors are saying a solid plan needs to be in place before repealing the healthcare law.
On Thursday, January 5th, a group of people got together at Genesis West in Davenport to express their concerns.
Ezra Sidran was one of them. He found out in 2013 he had a rare blood disease.
"100 percent fatal with a life expectancy of less than 60 months," said Sidran.
He would need a bone morrow transplant and chemotherapy to save his life. Only problem is he didn't have insurance that would cover the nearly $1 million dollar bill.
"I was terrified," said Sidran.
Sidran says he feels lucky Obamacare came about when it did and it's a story he wants Congress to hear.
"That`s what blows me away, my disease was fatal but treatable, but if you don`t have health insurance you simply die," said Sidran.
Some people are worried the Affordable Care Act will be eliminated before a replacement plan is created, leaving 230,000 Iowans and 20 million people nationwide without insurance.
"A lot of them didn`t have health insurance before and so this would really be a big hit for them now that they`re finally getting their meds, getting healthy," said Laurie Zimmerman from Genesis.
While Republicans have said there will be a replacement eventually, that's not good enough for some, they want a plan now.
"If you think that I shouldn`t worry, that they`re going to have something that will take its place, prove it, prove it to me, put it in writing," said Shelley Sheehy, who's covered under Obamacare.
Genesis is encouraging people to still enroll for the Affordable Care Act because there's been no talk yet of making changes to the plan in 2017.
The last date to enroll is January 31st.