Residents and medical centers nervous over health care vote

“The clinics are booked, my husband needs back surgery, (we) don’t know when he’s going to get that now,” said Salinas resident Naomy Hall.

As Hall waits to learn if Obamacare will be repealed and replaced, she said her family could be left with no health coverage.

“Right now we fall on hard times, we don’t have a backup plan,” Hall said.

Hall said every day, she calls all the clinics covered by her insurance but hasn’t been able to get any appointments until months from now.

“Everybody is doing the same thing,” Hall said. “The lines, the waiting list (are) getting bigger and bigger.”

With a vote scheduled for Friday, Hall is worried for her family.

“My parents are on Medicare, my mother-in-law as well, some of my kids. So yeah, it worries me,” Hall said.

Natividad Medical Center said it would lose a lot of money if Obabacare is repealed.

“We would look at losing about $38 million with the loss of Obamacare, and in the health department, we are looking at another $7 million loss of revenue,” said Julie Edgcomb with the center.

That means tens of thousands of patients lost.

“We will be back to a huge number of people with no health insurance, who will wait until they are very, very sick, and most likely present at the emergency room with serious acute illness or a combination of chronic illnesses that are more expensive to treat,” Edgcomb said.

And for Hall and her family, her husband’s back surgery may have to wait.

“He’s probably not going to get it now, because there’s no way we can afford, you know, anything else,” Hall said.

President Donald Trump issued and ultimatum Thursday demanding a vote.