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Stefanik undecided on today’s health plan vote

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro (Photo provided by Rep. Elise Stefanik)

Rep. Elise Stefanik wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act but isn’t committing to the GOP replacement plan.

President Donald Trump, Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republican leaders spent this week on Capitol Hill trying to round up the 216 House votes needed to approve the bill in a showdown vote expected Thursday and send it to the Senate.

Trump urged Republicans to unite or face voter backlash, predicting, “We’re going to get a winner vote.”

Ryan said the president “knocked the ball out of the park” in his meetings with the GOP lawmakers.

The GOP holds a 237-to-193 edge over Democrats in the House, but several conservative and moderate Republicans have indicated resistance — for vastly different reasons.

The conservatives say the bill doesn’t go far enough in repealing present law, and the moderates fear it will balloon the number of uninsured Americans by several million.

Democrats, to a member, say they will have no part in voting for a bill that would dismantle former President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement.

Administration officials were pressing hard this week to secure enough votes to pass the GOP plan.

Stefanik, R-Willsboro, whose 21st Congressional District of New York includes Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties, was supposed to join other moderate Republicans in a meeting Tuesday at the White House with Vice President Mike Pence and Reince Priebus, Trump’s chief of staff, but she got tied up in an Armed Services Committee meeting and did not attend, her spokesman, Tom Flanagin, said Wednesday.

No decision

Obamacare is failing, Stefanik said, adding that constituents in her district continue to see double-digit premium increases and that nationwide, nearly one-third of counties have just one insurer participating in the exchanges.

She believes Obamacare needs to be repealed and replaced with common-sense reforms that lower costs and increase access for families in our district, but she wasn’t committing Wednesday to how she would vote Thursday.

Flanagin said Stefanik was reviewing the legislation and working with her colleagues to ensure that the package includes reforms that will help lower costs for families and businesses in the district, protect coverage for those on their parents’ plan and people with pre-existing conditions, help job creators and protect the needs of rural communities.

Gathering input

Flanagin said Stefanik has been reaching out to people across the district for input on the new legislation.

She has held dozens of calls and meetings with constituents and groups in D.C. and in the district offices to discuss health care, he said.

She has also held calls and meetings with local elected officials, local hospitals and health care providers, and has spoken with community health groups in the district, Flanagin said.

On Monday, Stefanik hosted a tele-town-hall forum that was advertised in advance and dialed out to more than 62,000 phone numbers across the district, regardless of political party.

“We are grateful for the feedback we have received and are continuing our outreach,” Flanagin said. “We encourage everyone to read the plan at readthebill.gop and to contact our office with their thoughts.”

“Devastating”

The chief executive officers of all the hospitals in the North Country have come out in opposition to the GOP plan.

“The American Health Care Act, the Republican ACA-repeal bill now before Congress, would have a devastating effect on New York state, health-care providers and individuals in our region,” said a letter from the CEOs of the hospitals in Plattsburgh, Malone, Saranac Lake, Elizabethtown and other communities.

Flanagin reiterated that Stefanik believes the American Health Care Act is a starting point that will be improved.

She likes that the plan would repeal 15 Obamacare taxes that drive up costs, he said, including repeals of the medical device tax and health insurance tax.

Medicaid

Stefanik is also soliciting feedback from stakeholders in the district on the Medicaid portion of the proposal, but she is pleased that this legislation takes a multi-year approach to the program, Flanagin said.

She would not support an immediate end to Medicaid expansion, as some have advocated for.

Additionally, the per-capita Medicaid allotment would represent a better deal for New York than the block-grant proposal in previous discussions, the congresswoman believes.

“We need to prioritize support for the most vulnerable in Medicaid, including the blind and the disabled, and this package continues to provide federal support for this program,” Flanagin said on her behalf.

He said she is encouraged that the Congressional Budget Office said the American Health Care Act would lower premiums by 10 percent, reduce the federal deficit by $337 billion and lower taxes by $883 billion, providing significant tax relief for middle-income families and small-business owners.

“Congresswoman Stefanik is committed to achieving a 21st-century health-care system that helps families and businesses across our district,” Flanagin said.

(Editor’s note: Four daily newspapers in the North Country — the Enterprise, Post-Star of Glens Falls, Watertown Daily Times and Press-Republican of Plattsburgh — are sharing content to better cover New York’s 21st Congressional District.)

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