Sen. Grassley confronted at town hall over ObamaCare stance: ‘You’re threatening my life’

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Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was confronted by a woman at a town hall last week regarding his stance on the Affordable Care Act.

The woman, who was identified by KGAN as Robin Stone, of Manchester, Iowa, asked the senator at a town hall on April 23 in Independence, Iowa, what his plan was to “keep millions of Americans like myself covered?” The interaction between Grassley and Stone was posted by Progress Iowa, which describes itself as “a statewide organization powered by a community of nearly 70,000 progressives, focused on research, education and advocacy,” according to its website.

The senator said she was asking about the Affordable Care Act because the “the courts may declare the [ACA] unconstitutional.”

“Now I don’t think that the courts are going to declare it unconstitutional,” he said.

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Stone pointed out that Grassley “voted seven times to repeal it.”

“Yes,” Grassley replied.

“Why? What are you going to do for people on the ACA?” she asked.

“Well, first of all, it’s not going to get repealed,” the senator replied.

“I want you to answer me personally as a person whose life depends on insurance, I would be dead in 60 days or less without the Affordable Care Act,” Stone replied.

Grassley replied that the Affordable Care Act was “the law of the land” and it was not “going to be repealed by Congress.”

“Do you think it’s going to be repealed tomorrow?” he asked.

“You continue to vote for repeal,” she replied.

"The last time we voted for repeal was when McCain [late Sen. John McCain] voted the other way and there's no chance of repealing it now,” Grassley replied. “Besides, even if we passed it in the Senate it wouldn't get through the House of Representatives, so what are you worried about?”

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“Well then why do you keep voting to repeal?” she asked. “You’re threatening my life.”

Stone told KGAN that she “was very offended” by Grassley’s response and thought he “completely evaded” the question.

"I would love to sit down 1-on-1 with him, I'm going to write to him and I'm going to ask for that,” she told KGAN. “Why don't we sit down and why don't we discuss this, outside of the public realm."

According to Stone's LinkedIn page, she is the chair of the Delaware County Iowa Democrats. She is also listed on the Iowa Democratic Party’s website as the chair of Delaware County.

In March, the Trump administration told a federal appeals court that the whole Affordable Care Act must be abolished. Justice Department attorneys filed a letter with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans asking to effectively strike down the ACA in its entirety, agreeing with a landmark ruling by a federal judge in Texas last year.

Grassley's office told Fox News in a statement provided Wednesday, "Following the hour-long Q&A [question and answer], Sen. Grassley’s staff provided Ms. Stone with contact information for his scheduling department and suggested she contact his office if she wanted to discuss the issue further or to set up a meeting. The office has so far not been contacted but can be reached by phone, email, postal mail or fax anytime. Sen. Grassley sets aside at least eight 15-minute meetings each day to meet in-person or by phone with Iowans on a first-come-first-served basis to discuss policy issues. He also makes himself available for at least one Q&A in every county, every year as part of his annual 99 county meetings."

Fox News’ Lukas Mikelionis contributed to this report.