'We Are Relieved': Hickenlooper Reacts To Latest GOP Health Care Failure
DENVER (CBS4) - Gov. John Hickenlooper issued a statement in response to Senate leadership's decision to pull the Graham-Cassidy bill, the latest measure by the Republican party to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
"We are relieved that the Senate has decided to put aside the flawed Graham-Cassidy bill that would have hurt hundred of thousands of Coloradans," said Hickenlooper in a statement. "We urge Senate leaders to return to regular order and support bipartisan work to improve our health care system. We encourage Senators Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray to return to the negotiating table and quickly finalize a package to stabilize the individual insurance market and help make individual health insurance more affordable. We stand ready to work with Congress and expand our scope to address the underlying drivers of health care costs."
The latest bill, known as Graham-Cassidy after its primary sponsors Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, would eliminate the mandate that everyone has to have health insurance. It would effectively end the expanded Medicaid program in more than half of the states, taking the money used to fund that program and redistributing it to states based on a new formula. And it would place a federal spending cap on Medicaid.