WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has agreed to add fresh Medicaid curbs to the House Republican health care bill Friday, bolstering the measure with support from some conservative lawmakers but leaving its prospects wobbly.
One leading House conservative said the alterations were insufficient. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who leads the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, said the change “doesn’t move the ball more than a couple yards on a very long playing field.” He claimed to have enough allies to sink the measure.
The House Republican health care bill has competition from another GOP group, governors with their own proposal on how to overhaul Medicaid for low-income people. They’re hoping Republican senators will find their ideas more persuasive.
It’s a gradual approach, with additional options for states. It’s likely to involve more federal spending than the House bill, but also keep more people covered. In the end, though, the governors are still talking about fundamental change.
Four GOP governors are pushing the plan, saying they represent most of the 33 Republican state chief executives. There’s no inkling that Democratic governors are involved.
Medicaid is a federal-state program that covers more than 70 million low-income people, about 1 in 5 Americans. It will be a central issue in the Senate health care debate.
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