White House pitches health bill to skeptical U.S. governors

PROVIDENCE, R.I. The Trump administration is struggling to get support from skeptical U.S. governors for a revised health care bill before the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma made their pitch Saturday morning during a closed-door meeting of the bipartisan National Governors Association. Vice President Mike Pence also met several of the governors privately after his public address at the Rhode Island conference on Friday.

Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker said Saturday he had an “extensive meeting” Friday with Pence and Price and “we’re hopeful they’re going to get to a point where they’re going to have a repeal-and-replace that works.” Walker declined to say if he supports the current version.

“I haven’t read through it all yet so I’ve still got to look at it,” Walker said. “It just came out yesterday.”

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, one of the bill’s most prominent Republican skeptics, said it’s unlikely they changed anyone’s mind.

“I am struggling to validate the numbers that are being presented to me by the administration, versus what I’m hearing from independent (experts), what I’ll likely hear from the (Congressional Budget Office), what I’m hearing from back home,” Sandoval said after the governors-only meeting.

Sandoval has expressed concerns about the legislation’s cuts to the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled. His position is important because of the pressure he could place on Nevada’s Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, a possible swing vote.

With two GOP senators already opposed to the legislation, one more “no” vote would kill the bill outright in a Senate divided 52-48 between Republicans and Democrats. Sandoval said, “Sen. Heller’s his own man,” but he’s trying to give him the best information about how the legislation would affect their state.