Ocean County Republican Freeholder Defends Obamacare

TOMS RIVER – Don't be in such a hurry to dump Obamacare, Freeholder John P. Kelly said at a board meeting on Wednesday, according to app.com.

“I have a daughter who is 34-years-old who is using the Affordable Care Act as the only insurance she could afford,” Kelly said. “She makes about $10 an hour, so she’s not making a great deal of money. She needs the insurance because she fights — I don’t even want to go into what it is — but she has something that she needs to take care of. Without the Affordable Care Act, I don’t know how.”

Kelly was referring to his daughter Dawn Marie Kelly, who has struggled with an opioid addiction for years.

“She’s no longer in that age bracket where she could be covered under our insurance,” Kelly said. “She doesn’t have a job that provides insurance and she needs insurance. So there is a reason for this type of insurance that protects everyone.”

Kelly made the statement after a political supporter of his criticized the Affordable Care Act during the public comment portion of Wednesday's meeting.

Garry Black, a Berkeley Township Public Works employee who routinely attends freeholder meetings, said 'good riddance" to Obamacare during the public portion of the meeting.

“I’m a public worker, I have good insurance, we don’t have deductibles," Black said. "Too many people with good insurance think that the Affordable Care Act gives people gives insurance like we have. The fact is it doesn’t. I know people who got stuck on Obamacare. They got insane deductibles.”

Black went to the microphone during the public portion of the meeting to counteract statements from Lynda Fote, president of the Ocean County Chapter of the National Organization for women. Fote asked board members to use its influence on the county's congressional delegation to oppose the repeal of the Affordable Care Act until a replacement is in place.

On Friday, U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-New Jersey, who represents the county seat in Congress, became one of only nine Republicans to vote against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act in the House of Representatives and the only GOP lawmaker in New Jersey.

“I don’t call it Obamacare, I call it Obama-scam,” Black said after Fote had spoken.

“I disagree with my good friend, Garry Black,” Kelly later said.

Image: Patch file photo