Governors wary of Medicaid cost shift in Senate health bill
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Governors in several states that opted to expand Medicaid under former President Barack Obama’s health care law are wary of the Senate Republican plan to end the added federal funding for it within seven years.
The proposal released Thursday calls for a slower phase-out of the Medicaid expansion than a bill adopted earlier by the House. Yet it still would force those states to figure out what to do about the millions of lower-income Americans who used it to gain health coverage.
The doubts about the latest plan from Washington came from Republicans, Democrats and the nation’s one independent governor.
“I have deep concerns with details in the U.S. Senate’s plan to fix America’s health care system and the resources needed to help our most vulnerable, including those who are dealing with drug addiction, mental illness and chronic health problems and have nowhere else to turn,” Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, said in a Twitter message.