GOP plan pulled; Stefanik still aims to reform health care

March 24--PLATTSBURGH -- The controversial American Health Care Act was pulled from the floor Friday afternoon when it appeared that it didn't have enough votes to pass.

Even then, North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik would not tip her hand as to whether she was going to vote for or against the plan.

"Obamacare is broken," she said in a statement released shortly after the vote was called off. "Constituents in our district continue to see double-digit premium increases, sky-high deductibles and lack of access to the care they need.

"Throughout this process, I've fought for the needs of the North Country and negotiated better access for critical issues like women's health and maternity care.

"We need to continue working to find solutions we can agree on that will help fix our broken health-care system."

On the future of health-care reform, Stefanik said, "I am committed to achieving a 21st century health-care system and will continue to work to replace Obamacare with reforms that lower costs, increase access and improve quality for hard-working North Country families."

'INCOMPETENT'

The death of the American Health Care Act quickly brought out responses from opponents.

"Ultimately, the TrumpCare bill failed because of two traits that have plagued the Trump presidency since he took office: incompetence and broken promises," U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said in a statement.

"In my life, I have never seen an administration as incompetent as the one occupying the White House today.

"They can't write policy that actually makes sense, they can't implement the policies they do manage to write, they can't get their stories straight, and today we've learned that they can't close a deal, and they can't count votes. So much for the Art of the Deal."

Schumer has been vocal in his opposition to the bill, as well as the Trump presidency in general.

"I also have never seen a president break as many promises to working people as this president has done in just over two months," he said.

"President Trump said we're going to have health insurance for everyone that's going to cost less. TrumpCare would have done exactly the opposite. This bill would have been a boon for the wealthy, providing a huge tax cut for Americans making over $250,000, while causing premiums to rise by more than $12,000 for lower income seniors.

"Today should be the last day the cloud of TrumpCare hangs over the American people."

'DISGUSTING DISPLAY'

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo weighed in Friday evening.

"This week, Washington showed the people of this nation a disgusting display of government at its worst," he said in a statement.

"We saw members of Congress openly bribe one another at the expense of their own constituents, racing each other to decimate New York's health care system while attempting to ram through a piece of legislation that would jeopardize the health care of 24 million people and supported by only 17 percent of Americans."

Cuomo said the bill should be killed once and for all.

"Republican leadership may have counted on the complexity of the issue to confuse the debate, but at the end of the day it's actually quite simple," he said.

"This Congress tried to play the people of this nation for a fool -- they were wrong, and they lost."

NEGOTIATOR ROLE

As the jockeying over the bill continued Friday, Stefanik (R-Willsboro) was grabbing more headlines as a key player in shaping the legislation.

Stefanik and three other representatives were able to secure $15 billion in funding for maternity care, substance-abuse treatment and mental-health care.

The House leadership and the White House agreed to incorporate the additional funding into the plan, according to a news release from Stefanik.

"Throughout negotiations with congressional leadership and the White House, I have insisted that protections for maternity care must be included in any final package," Stefanik said.

"I spoke out in support of protections for mothers and children in meetings at the White House and with the House leadership and committee chairs who have drafted this replacement legislation."

'WIN FOR FAMILIES'

Stefanik has long said that the parts of the Affordable Care Act under former President Barack Obama that are working should be kept but efforts need to continue on fixing the overall system, which she described as broken.

While she would not say, before or after, whether she would support the Health Care Act, Stefanik continued to work on getting items added to the bill as the vote drew near.

The additional funding for maternity leave and substance-abuse and mental-health care was a vital add to the bill, Stefanik said.

"This is a win for families across the district and the country," she said before the plan was withdrawn.

MEDICAID ADD-ON

Stefanik was already in the middle of the fight earlier this week when she was part of a team of Upstate New York Republican representatives who secured an amendment to the bill that would see New York state completely take over the Medicaid program.

That would alleviate major costs for counties but put an added burden of more than $2 billion on the state budget.

Cuomo fought back, saying the Health Care Act with the included amendments would gut funding for hospitals, nursing homes and wind up costing counties more in the long run.

"The radical conservative ideology in Washington has declared war on New York with legislation that will devastate hospitals across the state and hurt New Yorkers," Cuomo has said.

"These massive cuts will cripple our hospitals and ravage the health-care services on which New Yorkers rely, with $20.2 million in cuts to hospitals in the 21st District (Stefanik's district) alone."

The CEOs of every hospital in the North Country had opposed the plan, as does the AARP.

Cuomo said the bill never should have gotten as far as it did.

"Some Republican members of Congress apparently forgot who put them there in the first place," he said.

"So let me remind them: you are elected to fight for your constituents -- not hurt them. For the first time in my life, I witnessed New York elected officials pound their chest proudly while cutting nearly $7 billion in funding for the people they serve, tripping over themselves to cut taxes for millionaires while simultaneously cutting healthcare services for seniors, women, and the disabled and killing jobs across the state."

'MISLEADING'

Stefanik and the other New York Republican Congress members who lobbied for the Medicaid amendment responded to the governor Friday morning.

"This commonsense amendment would simply make New York state finally take responsibility for their own budgeting instead of passing these costs down to the county level," Stefanik said.

"This is why local officials continue to support this approach that would help reduce property taxes for hard-working North Country families.

"Gov. Cuomo should stop misleading New Yorkers about this plan and work with us to give the people of our state needed relief from the Medicaid mandate."

Stefanik issued a news release Thursday with support from several county leaders in her 12-county district for the Medicaid amendment.

GILLIBRAND OBJECTS

At a news conference in Plattsburgh Friday morning before the bill was pulled, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, like Cuomo, said the Medicaid amendment was a bad idea.

"I think it is problematic and just makes a very bad bill worse," she said.

"It's going to be a $2 billion hole for our state."

Gillibrand also said the Health Care Act, in general, would be destructive for New York.

"It's going to cut millions of people off basic health care," she said.

"It will cost a lot more money for our seniors, as they are the ones who are overwhelmingly burdened.

"It will also cost a lot more for women with infants and cost a lot more for women in general.

"To not have Planned Parenthood provide care in places like the North Country is really problematic because a lot of people get their basic health care from Planned Parenthood, especially in rural areas," Gillibrand added.

Email Joe LoTemplio:

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