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Rowdy crowd highlights town hall meeting with Rep. Dave Brat

Posted at 10:37 PM, May 09, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-10 00:54:52-04

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Protesters chanting "let history know we said no" set the scene for a raucous town hall inside a Midlothian church Tuesday night.

Chaos erupted immediately as Congressman Dave Brat (R-7th District) responded to hundreds of his constituents after voting “yes” on a bill to replace Obamacare.

Early in the town hall Brat established democrats dominated the crowd.

"How many people wanted Hillary to be President?" Brat asked the crowd, which responded with loud cheers.

Those voters clearly came fired up as Brat attempted to address constituent’s questions about why he voted for the American Health Care Act.

"That was really strange because the congressional budget office hadn't even scored the bill," one woman said to CBS 6.

The crowd repeatedly interrupted Brat by yelling and jeering.

At one point, State Senator Amanda Chase even threatened to bring in security and throw people out if they didn't stop.

"This is my town hall now... So sit down," Chase said.

Brat argued that the bill will reduce people's health care costs.

"Right now a young person can't go out on the market and buy a cheap insurance policy that's affordable," Brat said.

In an attempt to cut through all the yelling, CBS 6 reporter Melissa Hipolit talked to VCU health care policy professor, Dr. Peter Cunningham, about how the AHCA would actually impact Virginians.

"The biggest changes that will impact Virginians are that the subsidies that have previously been tied to income, meaning lower income people get larger subsidies, will no longer be based on income they'll be based strictly on age," Cunningham said.

Dr. Cunningham said the AHCA does not allow insurance companies to raise costs for folks with pre-existing conditions, but it does allow states to seek a waiver from that requirement.

"Which means in their states they would allow plans to charge higher rates for pre-existing conditions," Cunningham said.

The American Health Care Act is now in the hands of the Senate.

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