Students campaign to save Obamacare

On the second Wednesday in January, Alyssa Mitson-Salazar sat in the ground floor lounge of The Anlyan Center with an open laptop and a cell phone, poised to call yet another U.S. senator to voice her support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Her message: Up to 30 million people could lose their health coverage if President-elect Donald J. Trump and Republican members of Congress follow through on their promise to scrap the law.

For Mitson-Salazar, in her third year of the M.D./Ph.D. program, the issue isn’t just professional. A native of Conejos County, Colo., one of that state’s poorest communities, she knows many people, including her mother, who will likely lose their insurance if the ACA is repealed.

“So many people’s heath is at risk. I’m going to get emotional,” said Mitson-Salazar, her voice catching and tears welling up in her eyes.

Mitson-Salazar joined about 25 medical students in the lounge for the Jan. 11 phone bank targeting the senators. The Yale Healthcare Coalition, a group of medical students fighting to save Obamacare, sponsored the event. The coalition grew out of a forum on resisting Trump’s agenda held at Yale Law School shortly after the election.

“As much as it’s our duty to take care of our patients, it’s also our duty to take care of their insurance,” said Eamon Duffy, a fifth-year medical student active in the coalition.

The phone blitz, the second of three planned for January, constitutes just one part of the coalition’s anti-repeal campaign. The students wrote an op-ed that was published in the Huffington Post, and circulated a petition supporting the law at Yale and other medical schools. By mid-January, the petition had garnered signatures from more than 4,500 health professional students—334 of them from Yale—from schools in all 50 states, said Matthew Meizlish, a fifth-year M.D./Ph.D. student and one of the coalition’s leaders.

On Jan. 9, a national day of action held under the banner of #ProtectOurPatients, Meizlish and three other Yale medical students were among 100 medical students to deliver the petition to newly sworn-in senators in Washington, D.C. Dressed in their white coats, they sought meetings with the staffs of about 16 GOP senators believed to have reservations about a full and immediate repeal, Meizlish said. He was encouraged by what he heard. Staffers for Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee listened to the students’ concerns, asked good questions, and emphasized that their senators did not want people to lose their health insurance, he said.

“I felt that it was fruitful,” Meizlish said. “I think it had an impact to see that medical students really care about this issue and are deeply concerned about the consequences for our patients. I really hope that we can push things in the right direction.”

The students acknowledged to the senators that Obamacare is imperfect, but urged them to fix the law instead of dumping it, Meizlish said. “We want our senators to set aside partisan politics and improve the ACA rather than repeal it,” he said.

At Yale, about 40 students gathered in front of the Sterling Hall of Medicine on Jan. 9 to join colleagues around the country in devoting three minutes of silence to support of the ACA and the 30 million patients who stand to lose their access to care if it is repealed.

Trump and the GOP pledge to replace Obamacare with something better, but have yet to submit a plan. Proposals made so far would almost certainly cost millions their health coverage and increase costs, experts say. At least one of the GOP ideas—expanded health savings accounts—got a thumps-down from Mitson-Salazar. People in her hometown have incomes too low to save much, so such accounts would be of little use to them, she said.

The coalition has yet to plan its next move, but will stay in the fight as the battle over the law plays out over the coming months, organizers said. On Sunday, Jan. 15, medical students from Yale and Quinnipiac University attended a rally in support of the ACA led by Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal in Hartford, while other students from #ProtectOurPatients joined rallies around the country. #ProtectOurPatients, along with other physician groups, are beginning a campaign of “House Calls,” visiting district senate offices around the country to express their concerns.

“We are committed to making sure our voices are heard,” Meizlish said.

In 2014, many students now working to save the ACA were involved in a project to encourage New Haven residents to enroll in the health care program. Students for a Better Healthcare System visited churches, colleges, and other community centers to speak about the importance of the ACA. For more on that initiative, click here.