Alaska’s Gov. Bill Walker is concerned about an Obamacare overhaul bill that would cut Medicaid funding to his state.
Walker’s concerns come as Republicans are trying to woo Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to support the legislation billed as a last-minute hope to repeal Obamacare.
Walker, an independent, was concerned about the potential risks of the bill that turns $1.17 trillion in Obamacare funding into block grants and given to states. States that expanded Medicaid would initially see their funding cut significantly in an attempt to create funding parity between expansion and non-expansion states.
“Given Alaska’s current fiscal challenges, any proposal to shift federal costs to the states would likely result in drastic cuts to our Medicaid program,” Walker said in the Daily News Miner.
Murkowski has expressed similar concerns about how much money the state would get under the bill. She said that while flexibility from block grants is desirable, a lack of funding to implement that flexibility would make a difference.
Murkowski was one of three Republican senators who voted against a “skinny” repeal bill in late July that failed by 49-51. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, were the other Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting down the measure.
Now a quartet of four Republican senators is trying again to overhaul Obamacare. The Senate has until the end of the month to pass a bill under a special procedural pathway that requires only 51 votes to pass legislation.
Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Dean Heller of Nevada, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin are co-sponsoring the measure.
