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Manchin blasts GOP health bill

WASHINGTON — The Senate Republican leadership’s health care bill is as bad as the House’s, a West Virginia senator said on Thursday.

“I agree with President Trump that the House bill needed more heart, and it seems that the Senate bill needs more soul,” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said.

Senate leadership on Thursday, after weeks of secretive meetings and discussions, released the draft of a health care bill intended to replace the Affordable Care Act passed under President Obama.

“Based on my initial review, the health care bill released by Republican leadership today appears to be as bad of a deal for West Virginia as the House bill,” Manchin said. “It maintains severe cuts to Medicaid, raises costs for seniors and denies access to coverage for those who desperately need substance abuse treatment.”

The legislation gives a tax break to 11,000 of the wealthiest West Virginians without doing anything for the other 920,000 taxpayers “and it pays for these cuts on the backs of our most vulnerable neighbors,” he said.

“I have said from the beginning that I want to be a partner in making health care more affordable and accessible for our state,” Manchin said. “I stand ready to work with anyone to do that, but this bill makes things worse not better, and I cannot support it.”

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said she will review the draft legislation released Thursday morning, using several factors to evaluate whether it provides access to affordable health care for West Virginians, “including those on the Medicaid expansion and those struggling with drug addiction.”

Eliminating the Medicaid expansion and additional cuts to Medicaid take away the No. 1 tool in the fight against opioids, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said.

“Instead of raising prices on people over 50 and working families, we should be working together to lower costs, fight the opioid epidemic and make health care work better for everyone,” he said.

The Affordable Care Act is not working for many Ohio families and small businesses, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said.

“There are some promising changes to reduce premiums in the individual insurance market, but I continue to have real concerns about the Medicaid policies in this bill, especially those that impact drug treatment at a time when Ohio is facing an opioid epidemic,” Portman said. “I look forward to examining this new proposal carefully and reviewing the analysis by the Congressional Budget Office when it is available. If the final legislation is good for Ohio, I will support it. If not, I will oppose it.”

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