Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich blasted the Senate Republican healthcare bill for not providing states with enough resources to deal with health crises, such as opioid addiction.
Kasich said on CNN Sunday the Senate bill is an improvement from the House healthcare bill, but it still isn’t going to do enough to help his state. He said it’s going to harm children, seniors, disabled people and people struggling with drug addiction.
“It’s just not enough resources there and I’ve been very concerned here in my state … if you look at the entire Medicaid pie, there are a few challenges to do it because the resources are just not there,” he said.
Kasich argued one of the major problems with the bill is the fact that it eliminates subsidies to insurance companies that are helping provide stability in the market. Insurance providers are already pulling out of many counties because they don’t know whether it makes business sense for them to provide insurance in poor, rural areas or if the tax incentives will be there to help them in the future.
Kasich said that “creates more instability in the insurance market.”
He stopped short of calling on Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman to vote against the bill, but he said if he was in Congress now he wouldn’t be able to support the bill.
“I don’t think the bill’s adequate now and unless it gets fixed, I’m against it,” he said.
