Senators discuss push for health care bill
Manchin: Former governors want to work on legislation
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PARKERSBURG - Former governors in the U.S. Senate are ready to work on a bipartisan solution to the health care issue, a West Virginia senator said Tuesday.
They had to do it on the state level, "if you want to be successful," said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
After enough Republicans said they would not support the second Senate version to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Senate will vote in the near future on a bill repealing much of the Obama-era health care law.
Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, then said they will not vote to repeal the health care law without a replacement.
The repeal is near the eve of destruction as at least 50 votes in the affirmative are needed for a procedural vote to proceed with the legislation.
Compromise and a bipartisan solution are needed, but concessions will have to come from the hard-core right and the hard-core left, Manchin said.
If not, "you end up with what we have right now, nothing," Manchin, saying he hopes repeal of the health care act is off the table, told West Virginia reporters in a telephone press conference.
Thousands of people in West Virginia would lose health care coverage if the law is repealed. Elimination of the Medicaid expansion would impact opioid addiction treatment to a segment of the population that otherwise cannot afford it.
"As I have said before, I did not come to Washington to hurt people. For months, I have expressed reservations about the direction of the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare," Capito said in her statement. "I have serious concerns about how we continue to provide affordable care to those who have benefited from West Virginia's decision to expand Medicaid, especially in light of the growing opioid crisis. All of the Senate health care discussion drafts have failed to address these concerns adequately.
"My position on this issue is driven by its impact on West Virginians. With that in mind, I cannot vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians," she said.
The former governors, about 10, are ready to meet, said Manchin, who was a governor of West Virginia. They know how to work in a bipartisan manner, he said.
"…they know how to govern here," Manchin said.
Acknowledging that aspects of the health care act need to be corrected, such as greater involvement in the private markets and educating people who never had health care on how to use it, a consensus is first needed before legislation can be proposed, Manchin said.
"Democrats are going to have to give a little bit and Republicans are going to have to give a little bit," Manchin said.
Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, released a statement Tuesday citing Republicans who "lose the courage of their convictions."
"The millions of Americans who voted for members of Congress that repeatedly promised to repeal and replace Obamacare are frustrated and fed up. I am, too. I have voted repeatedly to repeal and replace; and often when I vote 'yes,' a small band of Republican members lose the courage of their convictions and vote 'no,'" he said. "We cannot be the party of 'no.' We must be the party of solutions, and there is no bigger problem right now than the ongoing collapse of Obamacare."
West Virginians for Affordable Health Care Tuesday encouraged Capito to "stand strong."
"We are asking her to not only vote no to proceeding on this repeal bill, but to begin working with her fellow senators on a plan that keeps what works, and fixes what doesn't in the current law," Executive Director Chantal Fields said.