Sen. Cassidy's health care alternative jeered at town hall

(AP) — Skeptics of Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy's alternative to the Affordable Care Act moaned and jeered at him during a town hall in Louisiana Wednesday, and when he said he's "neutral" on the Paris Accords to combat climate change, members of the audience groaned.

The Republican senator had his supporters among the more than 200 people who jammed a meeting hall in Covington, north of New Orleans.

"First do no harm," a New Orleans physician said as she questioned Cassidy, who also is a physician, referring to the doctors' traditional Hippocratic oath.

States that choose not to would automatically enroll people in low-cost, high-deductible plans covering extreme emergencies and generic drugs.

Cassidy also avoided saying whether or not he would vote against the House-passed American Health Care Act, although he did say that the bill fails to fulfill Trump's pledges of better coverage and lower costs.