Kasich spokesman: Pence’s healthcare claims ‘false’

Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s (R) office has flatly rejected Vice President Pence’s claim that nearly 60,000 disabled Ohioans are on waiting lists for Medicaid’s home and community-based services.

Kasich spokesman Jon Keeling told The Washington Post that such an assertion is “not accurate” and that suggesting Medicaid expansion hurt the developmentally disabled system “is false, as it is just the opposite of what actually happened.”

Kasich is among a group of GOP governors to oppose the Senate GOP plan to repeal and replace large parts of the Affordable Care Act.

{mosads}

He issued a statement this week saying that proposed changes to the bill were “still unacceptable” because of their possible effects on Medicaid and the private ObamaCare market.

Now, the Trump administration is pushing Republican governors opposed to the measure to get behind the bill.

“I know Gov. Kasich isn’t with us, but I suspect that he’s very troubled to know that in Ohio alone, nearly 60,000 disabled citizens are stuck on waiting lists, leaving them without the care they need for months or even years,” Pence said in a speech Friday at the National Governors Association summer meeting in Providence, R.I.

According to the Post, waiting lists for such Medicaid services are common and are typically longer in states that did not take ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion than in those that did.

Ohio was among a number of Republican-controlled states that took the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, which dramatically expanded the number of people who qualify for the program.

Senate GOP leaders’ healthcare bill – the Better Care Reconciliation Act – calls for deep cuts to Medicaid, prompting some more moderate Republican members to voice misgivings about the measure.