Pence pushes health plan

LOUISVILLE, Ky. Vice President Mike Pence appealed for total GOP congressional support for a White Housebacked health overhaul during a brief visit Saturday to Kentucky, where the Republican governor and junior senator are among the plan’s skeptics.

“This is going to be a battle in Washington, D.C. And for us to seize this opportunity to repeal and replace Obamacare once and for all, we need every Republican in Congress, and we’re counting on Kentucky,” Pence said at an energy company where business leaders had gathered.

He said President Donald Trump would lean on House Republicans to vote to replace former President Barack Obama’s law.

Pence’s trip was part of an effort to reassure conservatives who have raised objections to the House plan. In a sign of the high stakes, Pence’s motorcade passed a long line of demonstrators who chanted, “Save our care.”

The House is expected to vote on the bill in less than two weeks, but it faces resistance from critics within the GOP, including Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who has called the initial draft “Obamacare Lite.”

GOP Gov. Matt Bevin has said his state cannot afford to pay for a growing Medicaid program, which has cost Kentucky millions more than initially expected and now covers more than 25% of the state’s population. He has indicated he would not favor eliminating the federal insurance exchange.