SWANNANOA – Constituents pushed Rep. Patrick McHenry Tuesday to preserve or improve the Affordable Care Act, denounce white supremacists and related groups and vote in favor of legislation to protect the environment.

Lynnette Miller of Black Mountain was one of several in a crowd of about 180 in an often-contentious town hall meeting McHenry held here who said they had benefited directly from the law commonly called Obamacare.

“I’m a cancer survivor. ... I could not have insurance had I not had the Affordable Care Act,” Miller said to applause from the crowd. “You had lots of time to get the act together and there’s nothing there.”

McHenry, a Lincoln County Republican, said the ACA is not working now and that a single-payer system some in the audience favored would cost $32 trillion over 10 years and thus be too expensive.

The ACA, he said, is “a deeply flawed plan that is not delivering on the very promise that it set out to deliver.”

Over two and a half hours at the Land of Sky Shrine Club Tuesday afternoon, McHenry was frequently interrupted by critical comments from the audience. Only a handful of speakers offered general support for McHenry or Republican policies in Washington.

McHenry, who is chief deputy majority whip in the House, began the meeting by discussing the shooting of Majority Whip Steve Scalise in June and recent violence by far-right groups in Charlottesville, Virginia. He condemned both, including groups like the Ku Klux Klan, saying, "That's not who we are as Americans."

He asked that people in the audience "be civil to one another." Questioners typically were, but McHenry at times had to ask the crowd to let him finish an answer.

Republican moves to rewrite or simply dismantle the ACA were the target of criticism from several speakers.

Like most House Republicans, McHenry in May voted for a bill that would remove the ACA mandate that people buy insurance, reduce government subsidies for many who do and give states a way to ease rules on what insurance must cover or shift care for those with pre-existing conditions to high-risk pools.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would reduce the federal budget deficit by $119 billion between now and 2026 but mean 23 million more people would not have insurance. The bill has gone nowhere in the Senate.

Rik Schell, a small business owner from Asheville, told McHenry the ACA dramatically improved the quality of insurance he and his employees could get.

"It made a huge difference in my life, my pocketbook," he said. But, he told McHenry, "You and your party have undermined it at every point."

A later questioner identified himself as "another American who owes his life to the Affordable Care Act."

McHenry defended his vote, saying, "I voted for a plan that I thought would improve your care. ... Folks may not like it, but that was my motivation."

Under the ACA, he said, people can buy insurance plans "in the Obamacare exchanges that are too expensive for the very people that are mandated to purchase them."

He suggested steps to bring more competition among insurers and changes to medical malpractice laws, but also sounded open to more discussion of what should be done on the ACA.

"I believe that we should start over with this process and build consensus all around the ideas of reform," he said.

On other issues, several questioners complained about recent statements by President Donald Trump praising some who participated in the "Unite the Right" march in Charlottesville.

Linda Laufer of Asheville said both her parents survived the Holocaust.

"When I spoke to my 97-year-old mother, I have never heard her so emotionally distraught," she said. "This is a very dangerous empowerment of those ideas."

McHenry said he opposes hate groups like those involved in the march.

"When you show up with torches and masks and clubs, that's not about the First Amendment, that's about bullying," he said.

Several speakers criticized McHenry for voting for many bills they said would loosen environmental rules. One noted a low rating he had received from the League of Conservation Voters.

McHenry said he does not "conform to one industry or one group" and analyzes the costs and benefits of environmental legislation before voting.

He said global warming "is real and we have to figure out how we wrestle with this as a society so we have better outcomes."

McHenry said he opposes any moves to make scientific data less accessible to the public and is a backer of renewable energy.