Joe Guillen

Detroit Free Press

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Michigan Democratic congressional leaders rallied in Warren this afternoon, promising to fight Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

With Democrats in Congress outnumbered and President-elect Donald Trump headed to the White House, Sanders called on the thousands at today's rally to send a message that a repeal of the Affordable Care Act will not be tolerated.

"If you want to improve the Affordable Care Act, let's work together. But if you think you're simply going to throw millions off of health insurance, you've got another guess coming," Sanders said at the rally outside Macomb Community College. "You're going to have to worry about millions of people who are standing up, who are fighting back and who demand the day when health care will be a right of all people, not just a privilege."

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With Trump's inauguration on Friday, Republicans already have taken steps to repeal President Barack Obama's signature policy initiative. Both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate passed a resolution last week clearing the way for the Affordable Care Act's repeal. The law's repeal and replacement was a priority of Trump's presidential campaign.

For the Michigan Democratic Party, holding a protest rally in Macomb County, home to the so-called Reagan Democrats, made sense. Macomb helped deliver Michigan to Trump by a wide margin after supporting President Barack Obama in the previous two elections. The crowd's largest cheer was for Sanders, who narrowly beat Hillary Clinton in Michigan’s presidential primary election in March.

About 6,000 attended the rally, according to a Michigan Democratic Party spokesman who cited a figure he received from Macomb Community College police.

Michigan's U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, and others from Michigan's Congressional delegation joined Sanders at the rally, which was one of several across the country about health care.

Peters urged those at the rally to get on social media and talk to friends and co-workers about their opposition to the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which has worked to insure 20 million formerly uninsured Americans, including more than 640,000 low-income Michiganders who have received health care coverage as a part of the act's expansion of Medicaid coverage. Trump has said the law increased health care costs.

"We need to generate a movement that lets the Republicans know there will be a price to pay if they repeal the ACA," Peters said. "We are going to stop this."

Michael Mattingly, 56, of Hazel Park, said after the rally that he is worried about what Trump's election could mean for Medicaid, which covers treatment he receives for diabetes and for his recovery from a stroke he suffered about a year and a half ago.

"When they repeal this ACA, what's going to happen next?" Mattingly said.

Angela Anderson, 46, of Oak Park, said she is angry that accessible health care is about to be dismantled.

"There is no compassionate viewpoint about what matters most to the everyday person, even though that was the bill of goods that was sold by the president-elect," Anderson said.

While preserving the Affordable Care Act as it now exists seems unlikely, both Sanders and Stabenow said Democrats can shape the discussion on health care going forward.

"How about a public option?," Stabenow said. "But they just want to rip it away and create chaos for every family and that is wrong."

Contact Joe Guillen: 313-222-6678, jguillen@freepress.com or on Twitter @joeguillen.