Nicole Gaudiano

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is urging other mayors to enroll as many people as possible in the Affordable Care Act as part of an effort to protect the law facing repeal by the Republican Congress.

“This is the law and it will be the law for the foreseeable future,” de Blasio, a Democrat, said during a Wednesday news conference at the Conference of Mayors winter meeting. "That’s a way of making sure more of our residents get health insurance. But also, every additional person who signs up provides that much more strength for why it has to be kept.”

De Blasio hopes other mayors will replicate his “Get Covered NYC” program, which aims to sign up 50,000 more New Yorkers this year.

He and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh are also pushing fellow mayors to lobby their members of Congress to keep the law known as Obamacare intact, share stories about their constituents who have benefited from it, write op-eds and flood social media and “take to the streets” with a national mayors day of action on Feb. 22.

Walsh said repealing the law will disproportionately hurt the poor, minorities, people with disabilities and those struggling with mental health issues and addictions.

“As mayors, we cannot stand by and let Congress put politics over people,” Walsh said during a meeting with mayors. “We’re making a statement here that health care is not a privilege, it’s a right for all.”

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The mayors’ lobbying push comes days after thousands of people turned out at rallies in 30 states across the country in support of the law, which has insured an additional 20 million people. Congress passed a resolution last week laying the groundwork for the repeal of the law, a top goal for President-elect Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers. But Republicans haven’t yet settled on a replacement.

While Republicans cite rising premiums, high deductibles and fewer insurance choices for patients as a reason for repeal, Democrats argue that scrapping the law without a replacement will leave people with pre-existing conditions unable to find coverage and balloon the nation’s budget deficit.

“Let’s have a real plan, real details, so that we don’t cause chaos in the lives of so many people,” San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said during the news conference.

Among the more than 20 mayors who appeared at the news conference were two Republicans – Carmel, Ind., Mayor Jim Brainard and Mesa, Ariz., Mayor John Giles.

Giles said Obamacare has insured tens of thousands of his constituents. If there are gaps in coverage and people don’t get the medical care they need, he said city fire and police departments will have to provide that health care.

He hopes the repeal and replacement will be done in a bipartisan and responsible way, and said he’s “optimistic that the adults in the room will prevail” when it comes to revising the law.

“Shame on the Republican legislators that were obstructionist during the Obama administration,” he said. “And I would call on the Democrats that will be dealing with this issue to not reciprocate in that manner.”

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