Brown Blasts Latest GOP Obamacare Repeal/Replace Bill, Which Kasich Also Opposes

Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown says he’s very concerned about the latest Republican attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which seems to have cautious support from his fellow Senator from Ohio, Republican Rob Portman.  The bill would cap Medicaid, reduce spending and distribute federal money to states. Brown said Ohio and other states that enacted Medicaid expansion will suffer because the bill will cut back the federal funds that they’ve been getting.  “It’s just incredible that Congress is going to reorder one-sixth of the nation’s economy and have virtually no hearings, no score from the Congressional Budget Office – nobody really knows what’s in this bill,” Brown said.Brown noted the bill also doesn’t include $45 billion in opioid crisis funding that a previous repeal-and-replace attempt did. Portman is reportedly asking for that money to be put back into the Cassidy Graham bill, which Gov. John Kasich has said he opposes because of concerns about the future of Medicaid expansion. Copyright 2017 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.