Wrangell got some national attention on the Fourth of July, but it wasn’t for its parade..
It was because of a visit from U.S. Senate Lisa Murkowski.
She was one of just four of the Senate’s 52 Republicans to make a public appearance during the national holiday.
Longtime Alaska journalist Julia O’Malley covered Murkowski’s Wrangell visit for the Washington Post.
“I would say 85 or 90 percent of the people who came up were talking about health care and her being sort of moderate on that issue and potentially not voting for the GOP proposal,” O’Malley said. “She certainly didn’t commit to vote one way or another, but seemed very sympathetic to the concerns of people around her who were just dealing with issue of cost and access.”
O’Malley, who stood beside Murkowski, said residents shared health care horror stories.
She said the senator seemed particularly moved when one woman spoke of $10,000 deductibles that discouraged her from seeking medical care.
Murkowski made another appearance on Friday in Homer, where she held a meeting with constituents at City Hall.
In her opening remarks, Murkowski said it was “important” that the Senate delayed the vote on health care reform, and she criticized the lack of transparency in the drafting of the new health care bill.
“You’ve got an effort to advance something quickly because we want to get it behind us,” Murkowski said. “That doesn’t yield good solutions.”
Murkowski spoke in front of a standing-room crowd of more than 100 people.
The questions were overwhelmingly focused on health care with numerous people decrying the current Senate Republican plan, titled Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017.
Multiple people called for a single-payer system, something the Senator said was unrealistic given the current political climate.
Nobody at the event spoke in favor of the bill.
Health care was not the only topic of conversation during Murkowski’s visit to Homer.
Later in the day, she attended a luncheon hosted by the Homer Katchamek Bay Rotary Club where she was asked about the potential of North Korea launching a weapon that could reach Alaska.
She responded that the country’s missile tests are alarming and that the threat should be taken seriously.
“I think we have seen a level of escalation in this past week and these past few days that most were hoping we would never see,” the senator said. “Maybe this is what precipitates that broader level of engagement from other nations to weigh in.”
Murkowski went on to say that missile defense enhancements coming to Alaska benefit not just the state, but the nation as a whole.
