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Hassan, Shaheen Hear N.H. Residents' Concerns on Senate Health Proposal

Paige Sutherland/NHPR
Roughly 200 people showed up Friday in Concord to voice their concerns to U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen about the Senate's new health care bill.

U.S. Senate Republican leaders unveiled their new health care bill Thursday. The Senate is scheduled to vote on it next week, but they don’t plan to hold any public hearings on the proposal. 

New Hampshire’s U.S. Senators say that’s why they decided to have their own public hearing Friday in Concord.

They called the event an “emergency hearing" and as Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan put it, here’s why:

“Make no mistake this bill would be a disaster for the people of New Hampshire and millions of Americans across this country.”

Hassan and Senator Jeanne Shaheen were joined on this warm Friday afternoon by roughly two hundred other Granite Staters who came out to voice their concerns.

Credit Paige Sutherland/NHPR
The room was packed with people eager to point out flaws in the Republican-backed Senate health care bill out of Washington.

Among them, was Maurice Kreis of Concord. His 15-year-old daughter Rose has cystic fibrosis.

“This bill is by far the biggest threat to her health and longevity – it’s unconscionable,” he said. Kreis was not alone. There was testimony from a mother whose young son also battles a chronic disease, a woman overcoming substance addiction and a man who's battling stage-four cancer. 

Critics of the proposal say one of their biggest concerns is possible changes to Medicaid, which would affect thousands in New Hampshire.

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