Key centrists and state governors are pushing Republican Senate leadership to support a much slower phaseout of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.
Republicans are fervently trying to find a consensus on Medicaid so they can vote on healthcare reform before leaving for Congress’ August recess. A small but growing bloc is trying to persuade leadership to go with a seven-year phaseout of the Medicaid expansion compared with a three-year phaseout preferred by GOP leaders.
Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada is the latest centrist Republican to say he supports a seven-year phaseout.
“I would hope leadership would listen to our concerns,” Heller, who faces a tough re-election bid next year, told reporters Thursday before heading into a closed-door meeting on healthcare.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., added that she is pushing for seven years alongside Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
“We obviously think it’s better than five or three,” she said.
Before going to the meeting, Capito added that the Senate GOP conference is “getting down to the nitty gritty” on partially repealing and replacing Obamacare.
The idea is to keep the Medicaid expansion in place until 2020 and then gradually phase it out over an additional seven years.
The American Health Care Act, which passed the House last month, would end the expansion in 2020 and then let states choose to use a per capita cap or block grant for federal funding.
Leadership needs centrist votes, but a GOP lawmaker told the Washington Examiner that Senate leaders want only a three-year phaseout as opposed to seven.
“They are hearing from governors and others that they need a longer phaseout to ensure you are not having a cliff effect,” the lawmaker said.
It remains to be seen how conservatives would back such a move. No consensus has emerged on Medicaid.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., pushed back when asked to comment on whether the talks are moving toward moderating the House bill.
“I am not convinced that is an accurate characterization at this point,” he said. “I am not sure I would agree with the premise.”
Washington Examiner reporter Al Weaver contributed to this report.
