Kasich: House GOP Medicaid plan ‘very bad idea’

Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Sunday criticized the House Republicans’ plan to phase out ObamaCare’s expansion of Medicaid.

“I’m in Munich, but I understand that there was an initial effort by House Republicans to, for example, phase out Medicaid expansion, which means phasing out coverage,” Kasich said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “That is a very, very bad idea, because we cannot turn our back on the most vulnerable. We can give them the coverage, reform the program, save some money and make sure that we live in a country where people are going to say, ‘At least somebody is looking out for me.’”

An outline of an ObamaCare replacement plan put forward by House Republicans on Thursday called for phasing out the Medicaid expansion by lowering the federal share of the cost back down to its traditional level, meaning that states would have to pour more of their own money into the program if they wanted to keep the expansion, a tall order.