U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Naples, spoke to a large group of health care workers with the Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida during an event in Fort Myers Wednesday.
The organization operates community health centers across the region providing care to underserved and disadvantaged communities.
Clawson—a Tea Party Republican who has called for repealing the federal health care law—toned down his rhetoric for the group and said he had reservations about the law. He said he agrees the country’s health care system was unsustainable before the Affordable Care Act, but said he “would just go about it a lot different than Obamacare.”
“We could solve that problem of the uninsured without impacting all these people that like their doctor and like their health insurance and that’s my main point,” he said. “That’s why I think Obamacare is too invasive. It’s not fair, maybe not even constitutional.”
Sandra Vega works for one of the centers in Fort Myers that provides care to mostly children. She said the law has a lot of positive impacts.
“For our patients, they will benefit from it,” she said. “Of course, there are legal some issues regarding that if they are legal in the country or not.”
Vega said for those children that don’t qualify for Medicaid because of their legal status, the law is a big help because it funds centers like hers, which provide care to those patients. For example, the Affordable Care Act awarded a grant to Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida that went to expanding operations in Lee County.
Clawson’s Democratic Opponent this November, April Freeman, has said she supports the Affordable Care Act.
