Casey meets with Pence to air his concerns

Jan. 17--U.S. Sen. Bob Casey met with Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Tuesday to air his concerns about the Affordable Care Act and Medicare, while expressing his desire to work in a bi-partisan fashion with the incoming administration.

Casey, D-Scranton, said he told Pence of his "significant concerns" with any plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Casey said if that were to happen, the action would raise premiums for middle-class families, hike the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and end vital consumer protections for the millions that had health insurance coverage before the Affordable Care Act became law.

Casey also told Pence he was concerned about any plan to end the guaranteed benefit of Medicare and slash nursing home funding by block-granting Medicaid.

"Despite promising not to touch important programs for seniors during the campaign, President-elect Trump has appointed the architect of efforts to end the guaranteed benefit of Medicare to lead the Department of Health and Human Services," Casey said in an emailed news release.

Casey said House Speaker Paul Ryan and Congressional Republicans have vowed to pursue their plan which will undermine Medicare and Medicaid.

"I made it clear that I would hold the incoming administration accountable on protecting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security," Casey said. "I also discussed my concerns with the administration's stated plans to cut taxes for millionaires, billionaires and corporations who ship jobs overseas at the expense of the middle class."

Casey said he and Pence also discussed Casey's "deep concern" about President-elect Trump's refusal to remove himself from financial conflicts of interest.

Casey said he and Pence discussed a plan to make a substantial, new investment in the nation's infrastructure in order to rebuild roads, bridges and expand broadband in rural Pennsylvania.

"I also encouraged Vice President-elect Pence to move forward with President-elect Trump's stated desire to crackdown on countries that cheat on trade," Casey said in the news release. "For years, I have opposed unfair trade deals and led efforts to hold countries, like China, accountable for their cheating."

Casey said the incoming administration must take swift action to protect Pennsylvania workers and ensure that all countries are playing by the rules when it comes to trade.

"For too long, Pennsylvania workers have gotten the short end of the economic stick on trade, and that must change," Casey said.

Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.

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