There was likely good reason why Greg Gianforte, successful Republican candidate for Congress from Montana, lost his cool on the eve of the election — scuffling with a reporter, breaking the man’s glasses and ending up with a misdemeanor assault charge:
He, like many Republicans these days, walks a perilous line when talking health care.
Ben Jacobs, a reporter for The Guardian, approached the candidate armed with an audio recorder and persistent, pesky questions about a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report, which found that the GOP’s American Health Care Act would leave 23 million more Americans uninsured over 10 years and would effectively price out from coverage millions with preexisting conditions.
Though the AHCA passed muster in the House of Representatives, disapproval of the Republican plan has been high among voters — by ratios of more than 2-to-1 among men and more than 3-to-1 among women, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. Over 50 percent of Republicans opposed cutting federal funding for Medicaid, a component of the bill. CONT.
Diane Webber, Kaiser Health News