Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Tuesday that governors could help Congress pass a health care repeal bill that drives down costs while keeping quality coverage.
“Let’s all get in a room, get the governors in, we administer these programs. We run the Medicaid programs in our states. Let’s get together in a major bipartisan way,” Mr. McAuliffe said on CNN.
“This was a non-starter. This wasn’t going to go forward,” the Democratic governor said of the Republican health care bill.
Mr. McAuliffe chairs the National Governors Association, which just had their summer meeting in Rhode Island over the weekend. He said health care was a major topic and that everyone argued states needed more flexibility to drive down costs.
“There are a lot of things we can do to save money and make sure everyone gets quality health care,” he said. “Give the states flexibility. This is something we’ve argued.”
But right now, Mr. McAuliffe said, politics is taking over the discussion and preventing anything from moving forward.
“This has all been about politics. We’re done with it. The Senate needs to show leadership. Let’s fix health care, let us get infrastructure done, let us do tax reform. But right now Washington is ground to a halt. They’re letting politics dictate policy,” he said.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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