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Healthcare Takes Center Stage For Meeting In BurlCo

BURLINGTON, NJ (CBS) -- Democrats from coast to coast are making their case against Republican efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare.

New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez sat down with constituents in Burlington County to get their take on the situation.

Several people told of how the Affordable Care Act has changed their lives for the better, and how they're worried if their insurance suddenly vanished or cost too much.

Bob Menendez
Senator Robert Menendez speaking. (credit: David Madden)

Menendez insists he gets it.

"Republicans say their plan will give Americans more choice over their healthcare," Menendez told KYW Newsradio. "But if you can't afford any of the choices, that's not choice. What good is that?"

He doesn't expect the current GOP proposal to make it through Congress, given divisions within the party.

"It would be my hope that, if they come to a point in which they understand they cannot reconcile their differences, that then we can have a foundation for changes," Menendez added.

Those changes could deal with government policy, premium controls and more.

Menendez concedes, as one of the prime authors of Obamacare, that the original proposal was too broad and mistakes were made, but throwing it out now would just make things worse.

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