Dozens arrested at health care demonstration in North Carolina
North Carolina NAACP leader Rev. William Barber is among more than 30 people arrested inside the state Legislative Building as they protested Republican lawmakers' refusal to expand Medicaid coverage.
Several tweets from the demonstration showed Barber being escorted in plastic hand restraints, as well as numerous protesters being blocked from entering the state legislator's offices.
General Assembly Police Chief Martin Brock says 32 people were taken into custody Tuesday and face charges of second-degree trespassing after holding a sit-in to push for Medicaid expansion and preserving the federal health care law passed under former President Barack Obama.
Dozens of protesters marched through the hallways to the offices of legislative leaders, where other protesters sat outside. Brock says the arrests began after officers received complaints.
The demonstration marks the latest action from Barber and his allies, who have been protesting GOP policies since 2013. More than 1,000 people have been arrested as a result.
A growing number of Americans age 40 and older think Medicare should cover the costs of long-term care for older adults, according to a poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
More than half of older Americans -- 56 percent -- think the federal government should devote a great deal or a lot of effort to helping people with the costs of long-term care, and another 30 percent think it should make a moderate effort to do so.
According to the poll, 56 percent of Americans age 40 and over think Medicare should have a major role in paying for ongoing living assistance, up from 39 percent who said so in 2013. Majorities of both Democrats and Republicans now think Medicare should bear a large part of the burden.
The protests come after the Congressional Budget Office released its latest score for the American Health Care Act. The CBO estimates that 23 million more people would be without health insurance over the next decade under the House-passed legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare.
The estimate projects that 1 million fewer people would lose their health insurance over that period than had been previously estimated when the CBO scored earlier versions of the bill. Two separate cost estimates in March projected that 24 million people would be left without insurance by 2026 under the versions of the measure considered at the time.
