Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, believes President Trump would be open to making changes to the current version of the American Health Care Act, but he said Democrats must be a part of that process.
“I think that he’s very open to compromise, he’s told me that,” Kasich told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd. “For example, he and I talked about this significant increase in pharmaceutical costs, drug costs and Medicaid.”
The former 2016 GOP presidential candidate said the current healthcare replacement bill does not unite lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, as the House Freedom Caucus tries to push the bill farther right.
“When you jam something through one party over another, it’s not sustainable,” Kasich added. “The fact of the matter is it will put us in a bind. Now, that doesn’t mean that we can’t fix this along the way, but we need to have Democrats involved so that what we do is going to be not only significant but will last. And then we get to the real problem, Chuck, which is the rising cost of healthcare.”
The House GOP released the bill last week, and it is expected to be scored by the Congressional Budget Office on Monday. The legislation rescinds Obamacare’s individual mandate, replaces subsidies with tax credits, and would eventually freeze Medicaid expansion.
Kasich was a proponent of Medicaid expansion, having enacted it in the Buckeye State in 2013.
