Four Republican Governors Come Out Against Obamac

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Four Republican Governors Come Out Against Obamacare Replacement Plan

Source: Bloomberg

by Anna Edney and Zachary Tracer

March 17, 2017, 10:04 AM EDT March 17, 2017, 11:47 AM EDT

Four Republican governors told top lawmakers in the U.S. House and Senate that they oppose the current GOP plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, and that they want Congress to preserve an expansion of the Medicaid health program for poor Americans.

In a letter Thursday, governors from Ohio, Nevada, Michigan and Arkansas wrote Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan and said the legislation the House is considering “does not ensure the resources necessary to make sure no one is left out, and shifts significant new costs to states.”

They said the bill “does not meet” goals set out by President Donald Trump about state flexibility and making sure people are covered.

The governors presented the GOP leaders with an alternative proposal on Medicaid that would keep an expansion of the program and make it available to other states that didn’t expand it under the Affordable Care Act. The House Republican bill would wind down the current Medicaid expansion starting in 2020.

Republicans’ Obamacare replacement is making its way through the House of Representatives, and has been approved by three of four committees it will pass through on the way to a vote, which could happen as early as next week.

Yet it’s heading for a collision with the internal politics of Republicans in the House and Senate, where conservatives have been pushing to wind down the Medicaid expansion as soon as next year. Such a move is opposed by Republican moderates whose votes are critical.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-...eplacement

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