GOP governor ‘discouraged’ by ObamaCare plan

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) says he is not impressed by new legislation from House Republicans to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

“Right now, I am very, very discouraged and disappointed with what the House Republicans are introducing,” he told the “George Hale and Ric Tyler Show” on WMOV radio in Maine, as first reported by CNN.

“Basically, it’s not much better than — in fact, I don’t know,” LePage added. “They haven’t scored it yet, so we don’t know what the cost is.”

{mosads}“But based on what I see and I’m reading and what has happened here in Maine over the last 15 years, I don’t think it’s an improvement.”

LePage added the House GOP’s ObamaCare strategy would likely hurt his state’s citizens.

“Being Maine and being the oldest state in the union, we are … not in a good place with what’s on the table right now,” he said.

“I think what they need to do is rethink what they’re doing,” LePage added of House Republicans. “Because we’ve already lived it.”

“We’ve lived through ObamaCare. We’ve learned some lessons, and they ought to be watching and listening and using the data that we have.”

House Republicans on Monday unveiled their long-awaited legislation for repealing and replacing ObamaCare.

The two bills are scheduled for votes in the Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees Wednesday.

The two committees will be working on the bills even though the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has not completed its analysis of their details. As a result, estimates of the plan’s cost and how many people may lose healthcare coverage will not be immediately available.

A full House vote is expected within weeks, potentially fulfilling President Trump’s longstanding pledge to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

The two measures scrap ObamaCare’s core, including subsidies to help people buy coverage, Medicaid expansion, taxes and mandates that people have insurance.

Republicans would implement in its place a new system centered on a tax credit to help people buy insurance instead.