Excerpt from Interview with Jim Heath of WBNS 10TV
Q: Gov. Kasich looking at Obamacare, looking at federal health care, looking at Medicaid, pushing now for the State of Ohio to have an expansion. Some conservatives aren't happy with that. Gov. Rick Scott just announced that he agrees with Kasich and will do the same thing in Florida, two of the leading swing states in the country. I know that you are at the federal level but if you were refereeing this, is there anything you can say one way or another of how you would encourage Republicans particularly to be guided through this Medicaid debate?
A: Well no, I have been very frank about this. I opposed the Obamacare legislation, I opposed the way they are expanding Medicaid because Medicaid needs to be reformed so it works better, so that it is sustainable over time because it is not in its current form. And so to me it doesn't even get to this argument of whether states opt in or opt out. I frankly just disagree with the way Medicaid is currently being operated. I think we should give the states much more flexibility. I think we should come up with programs that allow people to be able to pick and choose much more in terms of what benefits they want. I think we should put more personal responsibility in the system, and so I just don't think the current system is going to be able to withstand the financial pressure, and that’s not based on ideology its used based on math. The cost keep going up, if you look at Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security combined, those three programs combined, incredibly important programs, but have to be reformed. If not they will not only not be able to survive, in other words they can't be preserved for the longer term, but they will bankrupt the country. So my view on this is the Obamacare proposal before it came law was something that I opposed because I thought it would raise health care costs, turns out unfortunately that I was right, and specifically under the Medicaid program, I believe its in need of reform for the people who will benefit from it but also to ensure its financial stability over time.
Q: So philosophically do you stand on principle, or do you take federal money, some of which is already Ohioan taxpayer money anyway that is coming back?
A: Well, I guess it depends where you stand on that. I think, again, from a policy point of view, we have a system that is not sustainable that is not going to be able to be there for future generations, and with regard to Medicare and Medicaid combined, as the President is fond of saying, we have to get health care costs under control, and that means - the federal health care costs - and means those two programs. And we're just...we're dodging it, to you use your word. We're not dealing with the issue. So I'm sort of at the federal level, understanding how some governors are making decisions, you know, based on their budget and their interests, but continuing to say, as I have consistently, this is not the right way to go. We have to reform the program. By the way, we can make the program work better. Right now, you have the federal government putting mandates on the states. The state in charge of the actual implementation. The right hand often doesn't know what the left hand is doing, and responsibility is not aligned with authority. It's not working. So that's why I would provide a lot more flexibility to the states. I would reform the program to modernize it, and I think you would have a much better program as a result.