Gov. John Bel Edwards is urging Congress to keep the Medicaid expansion program intact as they work to replace former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.
The Associated Press reports the Democratic governor sent a letter today to Republican and Democratic congressional leaders. In it, he says he has “serious concern” with the GOP health plan because it would end the higher federal financing rate for Medicaid expansion in 2020.
Edwards embraced the expansion, making Louisiana the 31st state to participate. More than 405,000 Louisiana residents have enrolled in the coverage.
In his letter, Edwards says more than 62,000 of the enrollees have had preventive health care treatments, with some getting diagnosed with—and treated for—cancer and diabetes.
He says Medicaid expansion has saved Louisiana money and boosted health jobs in the state.
Edwards isn’t alone in voicing his concern, The Associated Press reports. The White House and Republican leaders in Congress scrambled today to shore up support for their health care bill as critics went on the attack over new estimates that 14 million people would lose insurance coverage in the first year alone.
The findings from the Congressional Budget Office handed fresh ammunition to Democratic opponents of the GOP drive to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The new figures, which estimated that 24 million people would lose insurance over a decade, also appeared to strengthen pockets of conservative resistance to the bill and rattle nerves among rank-and-file Republicans.
