SAN DIEGO (CBS 8 / AP) - A showdown is expected Thursday as the GOP plan to replace the Affordable Health Care Act goes up for a historic vote.
Thursday marks the seventh anniversary Obamacare's passage into law, but the scheduled Congressional vote could mark the beginning of its ultimate repeal.
The overhaul of the ACA has sparked protests and vigils around the country and in San Diego where a vigil was held at UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest Wednesday night.
"On the eve of this great day of decision, we pray that our nation be guided by faith and not fear, by connection not division," said Unitarian Universalist Rev. Sarah Millspaugh.
House lawmakers are scheduled Thursday to vote on the GOP's replacement bill known as the American Health Care Act.
Critics of Trumpcare said that if the bill passes and the ACA is repealed the real nightmare would begin, leaving 24 million Americans uninsured.
"Here in San Diego we know 370,000 San Diegans have health care because of the ACA," said Stadler.
The president's push to pass the bill is faltering with several House Republicans still holding out and Democrats holding firm.
At least 26 Republicans said they opposed the bill and others were leaning that way, enough to narrowly defeat the measure. The number was in constant flux amid eleventh-hour lobbying by the White House and GOP leaders.
Including vacancies and expected absentees, the bill would be defeated if 23 Republicans join all Democrats in voting "no."
For now, leaders showed no sign of delaying a House vote, their initial attempt to deliver on a pledge to erase Obama's law they've repeated since its 2010 enactment.