PennLive: Pa. Dems keep the healthcare reform pressure on Scott Wagner: Tuesday Morning Coffee
Good Tuesday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
With the U.S. House set to vote this week on GOP-authored healthcare reform bill – and with some Republicans still on the fence or in opposition, state Democrats are ratcheting up the pressure on the lone Pa. Republican now running for governor.
In an email blast to supporters this week, Pennsylvania Democrats argued that GOP gubernatorial hopeful Scott Wagner’s support for the Obamacare repeal means he “wants to gut Medicaid, raise taxes for the middle-class, strip healthcare from seniors and working families, and see 125,000 receiving treatment for the disease of addiction be turned away from care.”
The Medicaid expansion authorized under the 2010 law extended health coverage to about 700,000 low-income Pennsylvanians, including the aged and the disabled.
Wagner has yet to publicly comment on the American Healthcare Act, the Obamacare replacement being pushed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and President Donald Trump.
In a statement issued by his campaign last week, Wagner, of York County, said he supported “the full repeal of Obamacare.”
“As a business owner, he has seen the dramatic increase in costs in the years since Obamacare was passed,” Wagner’s campaign said in response to the attacks,” the campaign’s statement, first published by PoliticsPA, read.
At least three GOP members of Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegation, U.S. Reps. Scott Perry, R-4th District; Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-5th District, and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-8th District, have said they’ll vote against the bill in its current form.
A fourth Republican, 15th District Rep. Charlie Dent, has said he’s on the fence about the bill.
In the email, state Democrats urged supporters to sign a petition “telling Scott Wagner why repealing Obamacare is wrong for Pennsylvania and we’ll deliver the message.”
In an interview with the PennLive Editorial Board last month, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, blasted the GOP bill saying “it will mean some very bad things for Pennsylvania.
“This bill affects 124k additional Pennsylvanians who get treatment for opioid abuse, Wolf said. “A lot of rural health centers who are living on the edge right now that cannot afford to have uncompensated care … The early indications are that this is not going to be good for Pennsylvania.”
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