Disabled protesters dragged out of wheelchairs during healthcare protest

The police said that some of the demonstrators got out of their wheelchairs and lay on the floor, which made it hard for others to get past them in the hallway so they could go to their offices.

U.S. Capitol Police arrested dozens of people protesting cuts to Medicaid in the Senate Republicans' health care bill on Thursday.

Laura Halvorson, 33, also a protester, said many of those who participated in the die-in resisted arrest and were then removed by Capitol Police without their wheelchairs - images that attracted significant attention on social media.

The protest organized by the disability advocacy organization ADAPT, was meant to pressure McConnell and other Republicans not to cut Medicaid funding.

Police remove a woman from a protest in front of the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Capitol Hill, on June 22, 2017.

The protesters, from disability rights organisation ADAPT, had staged a "die-in" outside Mr McConnell's office to protest the legislation (Picture: Reuters) Footage shows police dragging protesters from the floor outside McConnell's office.

One of the organizers for ADAPT, Bruce Darling, said that the planned cuts to Medicaid would result in diminished medical care access and fewer services for both #disabled people and elderly people. One such protester was Phillip Corona, who said he traveled from Wisconsin to make his fears known to lawmakers in the case that Medicaid is slashed.

Senate Republicans released their long-awaited bill Thursday to dismantle much of Barack Obama's health care law, proposing to cut Medicaid and erase tax boosts that helped Obama finance his expansion of coverage.

Is it a coincidence that the protest occurred 18 years after the Olmstead v. LC hearing in the Supreme Court that recognizes disabled people's right to live in the community. "Most people are opposed to this bill, yet it is still moving along".