Three million people in New York were insured under Obamacare, and depending on its final version, the consequences of the American Health Care Act "could be devastating" to the state and its residents, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.
"What are you going to do with the 3 million people?" Cuomo said during an MSNBC "Morning Joe" interview. "Medicaid is a very big piece of our budget. They talk about block grants, talking it over to the states. That sounds great, the question is when they block grant it, do they actually transfer the money?"
Cuomo said there is an old expression, "passing the buck without passing the bucks," that is an apt description of what the GOP healthcare plan seeks.
"As governor of New York, my fear is the rhetoric of 'give it back to the states' sounds great, but if they give it back to the states and they cut the funding, you put the states in a really terrible situation," said Cuomo.
"So I get the political appeal of repeal[ing] Obamacare. But be careful what you ask for. And a little bit, I think this is the dog that chases the car. What are they going to do?"
Cuomo said he just worked out his current budget, but he doesn't have a contingency plan for what will happen, as he doesn't know what Republicans in Washington will end up doing.
"Frankly, they could take an action for which there is no contingency plan," the Democratic governor said. "There's been rumors that they could cut the State of New York by $2 billion, $3 billion. I can't make up $2 [billion], $3 billion. It would wreak havoc in this state. So it's their move. And I want to see what they come up with."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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