Chris Sununu, New Hampshire governor: Obamacare, Medicaid reform should be separate

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu suggested the Senate needs to separate Obamacare reform from Medicaid reform.

“One of our arguments is separate the two issues,” Mr. Sununu said Thursday on CNN. “If you’re going to reform Obamacare, look at Obamacare reform for what it is and what it needs to do. And take Medicaid entitlement reform as a separate piece. But when you put those two together, the cost implications are well over $20 million a year.”

Mr. Sununu said that small states like his, which is also at the forefront of the opioid crisis, depend on the federal government to help fund recovery and treatment programs for those battling addiction. Having his state foot the bill for those services would be a major problem, he said.

“I’ve expressed my concern a couple days ago,” he said. “The repercussions are pretty drastic for the state of New Hampshire, especially when you’re looking at resources that would come in. You’re looking at at least $1.5 billion in cost in New Hampshire over next 10 years. We’re a no income tax state. We have no sales tax, we have no income tax. We really control our costs at the local level.”

Mr. Sununu said that while the current plan isn’t “practical,” the Senate would craft a better one for states across the country.

“There really is no practical way to implement the plan as is,” he said. “I have a lot of faith in the Senate to come together, to revise the plan and hopefully put something forward that puts states on parity with one another and not be as financially impractical, on states like New Hampshire, that are facing things like the opioid crisis.”