Mike Pence suggested Tuesday he rejected Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion — except he didn’t.
“In the Hoosier State, we said no thanks to expanding traditional Medicaid,” the Republican vice presidential nominee said in a stump speech in King of Prussia, Pa. “We fought to make coverage available the right way … and it’s working, we call it the Healthy Indiana plan.”
But Pence was referring to his decision to accept the Medicaid expansion under President Obama’s healthcare law. He received permission last year to modify the program by requiring some enrollees to pay part of a monthly premium for coverage and providing a reduced-benefits plan for the poorest enrollees.
Pence is one of 10 Republican governors who have accepted the law’s Medicaid expansion, which provides coverage for people up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level.
But Pence has criticized the Affordable Care Act on the campaign trail. In his speech Tuesday, he promised supporters that he and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would transform Medicaid into a block grant program, which would limit its spending.
“Medicaid is not only broke, it’s broken and Obamacare has put the majority of people receiving new coverage into a broken Medicaid system,” Pence said.
Pence also outlined some other healthcare promises Trump has made, including expanding the use of health savings accounts and allowing insurance to be sold across state lines. Pence added a new idea Trump hasn’t mentioned: Making it easier for Americans to see the cost of their care, although he didn’t explain how that would work.
“When Donald Trump becomes president of the United States, we’re going to advance reforms that will allow Americans to see the cost of their care,” Pence said.
