A bipartisan group of governors wrote on Wednesday to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., opposing Republicans’ new “skinny” plan to repeal parts of Obamacare.
“The Senate should reject efforts to amend the bill into a ‘skinny repeal’, which is expected to accelerate health plans leaving the individual market, increase premiums, and resulting in fewer Americans having access to coverage,” the governors wrote in a letter, which included signatures from Republican Govs. John Kasich of Ohio, Brian Sandoval of Nevada, Larry Hogan of Maryland, Phil Scott of Vermont and Charles Baker of Massachusetts.
The Democratic governors who signed the letter are John Hickenlooper of Colorado, John Bel Edwards of Louisiana, Steve Bullock of Montana, Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania and Terry McAuliffe of Virginia.
Republican senators have begun to pivot to a scaled-back version of their healthcare bill following the defeat of two GOP healthcare plans, one that would repeal Obamacare in two years and another that would repeal it immediately with a replacement.
The skinny repeal would end the Obamacare mandate requiring people to purchase health insurance. It would also likely aim to stop implementation of Obamacare’s medical device tax, which has long been unpopular with both Democrats and Republicans who say the cost is being passed along to consumers and is stifling medical innovation.
Republicans previously told the Washington Examiner that voting for a skinny repeal would not be considered the final proposal. Instead, it would be used as a vehicle to bring the House and Senate together to work on an entirely new bill in a conference committee that would last into September.
In their letter, the governors called for a bipartisan approach to healthcare reform.
“We ask senators to work with governors on solutions to problems we can all agree on: fixing our unstable insurance markets,” the governors said. “Improvements should be based on a set of guiding principles, which include controlling costs and stabilizing the market, that will positively impact the coverage of millions of Americans, including many who are dealing with mental illness, chronic health problems, and drug addiction.”
