Obamacare needs to be fixed, as the current system doesn't work, but it's important not to "throw the baby out with the bathwater," Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Sunday morning, while disagreeing with Vice President Mike Pence that proposed reform legislation will offer the state's vulnerable citizens better coverage.
"No, he's not right. Medicaid expansion has covered 700,000 people in my state, a big chunk of whom are ill and drug-addicted and have chronic diseases," Kasich told NBC's "Meet the Press" anchor Chuck Todd. "We have to care about people, and we can get this done. We can change it and save money and have a better system."
Last week, Pence told an Ohio television station that he is "very confident that this legislation will give Ohio both the resources and the flexibility that your governor, and your legislature will need to meet those needs going forward and literally offer our most vulnerable citizens even better coverage."
Kasich said he has no doubt that a better system can be created that will still help people, pointing to his own state, where "we have controlled Medicaid and yet been able to reach out and help so many people in the shadows."
The Republican governor came under fire in 2013 when he enacted the Medicaid expansion in his state under the Affordable Care Act, saying his constituents needed the coverage. Last week, the governor argued in an opinion piece for The New York Times for ending partisan warfare on the healthcare reform measure, while stating that phasing out Medicaid expansions would put people who need the coverage at risk.
"If you're drug-addicted, if you're mentally ill, you have to consistently see the doctor," said Kasich. "From what I see in this House bill, the resources are not there. If you're chronically ill you'll have to have consistent coverage, under this bill you don't have it."
Kasich said the bill will probably pass the House, and his hope is that it will undergo improvements through the Senate. He hopes Democrats will come in and work with Republicans on the improvements, "so we can reform the system yet still not cut off the people who need this help."
While Kasich was a candidate in the 2016 presidential election, he never endorsed now-President Donald Trump, but he said Sunday he does have faith that Trump is "very open to compromise" when it comes to healthcare reform.
"He's told me that," said Kasich. "For example, he and I talked about the significant increase in pharmaceutical costs...I think the president, by the way, would be flexible. I have no doubt that he would be flexible. He just wants to get something through."
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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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