Governors slam Obamacare repeal bill
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The nation’s governors, gathered here for their annual meeting, came out strongly on Friday against the new Senate bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, ratcheting up the pressure on Republican leaders struggling to round up the votes to pass the bill next week.
Opposition came not just from Democratic governors but from Republicans who split along familiar lines between conservatives who said the legislation did not go far enough and moderates who said it was far too harsh on vulnerable residents.
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, who may be the most pivotal figure at the moment in the health-care debate, said he had “great concerns” with the legislation, and all but declared that he could not support any bill that would scale back Nevada’s Medicaid program. His decision to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act had been “a winner for the people of our state,” he said.
“I have to be comfortable that those 210,000 lives are going to continue to enjoy the quality of life and health care that they have right now,” he said, referring to the number of Nevadans who have gained coverage under president Barack Obama’s signature health law.
Conservative governors were not much more supportive. Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin suggested that Congress consider a better-funded version of the measure proposed earlier this year by Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana that would offer states more flexibility over how to run their programs.
Pursuing that approach, Walker said, would obviate differences between the states that did and did not expand Medicaid while averting the intractable split between conservative and centrist members of Congress over how to structure a replacement.
“None of these plans right now do us justice,” Walker said.
The response mirrored the struggles of congressional Republicans to forge consensus on legislation that would make good on a seven-year vow to repeal the health law. With two Senate Republicans already opposed, Senate leaders cannot lose any additional votes, and on Friday, some of the most influential Republican governors indicated a willingness to torpedo the bill entirely.
Sandoval’s views are likely to influence Nevada’s Republican senator, Dean Heller, while Walker’s could play on Wisconsin’s undecided Republican, Ron Johnson.
Recognizing how crucial Sandoval is, an array of senior federal officials planned to meet with him in Providence for eleventhhour lobbying. The National Governors Association conference, which more typically includes as much recreation as work, attracted Vice-President Mike Pence, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Seema Verma, the administrator of the Medicaid program.
Sandoval revealed that he had been lobbied personally by President Donald Trump in a phone call. Sandoval declined to discuss the specifics of their discussion.