As Harris Pulls Back From Obamacare Town Halls For Now, Activists Plan Their Own

After Rep. Andy Harris' decision to retreat temporarily to virtual town halls, some constituents of the Cockeysville Republican are planning a series of town halls without him.

A Bel Air grassroots organization called Citizens for Health Care is holding four town halls starting next Tuesday at Harford Community College, with the other three to be held elsewhere in Harris' district. Harris has been invited to all, but a spokesman couldn't confirm if that invitation had been received. The town halls were already in the planning stages before Harris told WBAL he would not be holding any in-person events of the sort at this time.

“At Citizens for Health Care, we understand that the subjects of health care and the ACA are not partisan issues: they are human issues,” one of the group's co-founders, DeLane Lewis, said in a statement. “Congress is facing a dilemma at this moment, arguing whether to repeal or repair parts of the ACA. However, any decision they make will have a real, lasting impact on all U.S. citizens. It is our mission to keep the public informed and aware as to how these proposed changes could affect them.”t on the average healthcare consumer’s wallet."

Emily Jackson, also a founder of the group, said that the virtual town halls won't allow for the kind of collaboration possible at in-person events..

Organizer Emily Jackson talks to Robert Lang:

Appearing on "The C4 Show" Tuesday, Harris cast skepticism on the motives of protesters seen by Republican colleagues at hometown town halls across the country. He suggested the protesters were funded by billionaire George Soros, though a board member of the group Harris cited as being funded by the billionaire investor has said the group has received no funds from Soros.

"It's nationwide, it's an organized, it's obviously an anti-Trump organization that just wants to cause trouble," Harris said. "They don't want to hear at town hall meetings, they want to disrupt town hall meetings."

Harris said he'll hold in-person town halls again once the GOP replacement for the Affordable Care Act is put forward in Congress.

Harris spokeswoman Jacque Clark said people who live in the part of Harris' district stretching from Carroll to Cecil counties will get a call Thursday asking if they want to participate. They'll be given a number to either call or listen in and Harris will take questions for an hour. A call for the Eastern Shore side of the district will be scheduled on a later date.

The grassroots town halls will aim to answer questions about the impact of repeal on employer plans, coverage of pre-existing conditions, Medicaid and the stare economy.

Guest speakers include Affordable Care Act navigators, treatment specialists and Dr. Margaret Flowers, the pediatrician and activist who ran as the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate last year..

Next Tuesday's town hall is at 6:30 p.m. in Darlington Hall at HCC. The second town hall is Thursday, Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. in Queen Anne's County Library. A third will be held Friday, Feb. 24, 6 p.m. at the Salvation Army (429 N. Lake Drive) in Salisbury. The fourth is set for Thursday, March 2 at 6 p.m. in St. Paul's UCC (17 Bond St.) in Westminster.

Robert Lang contributed to this report.

This article has been edited to clarify that the town halls were planned before Harris' remarks this week, but announced after.