Rothfus says he remains ‘undecided’ on House GOP health-care plan

March 17--With the House Republicans' American Health Care Act coming under withering criticism from across the political spectrum and supportive votes at a premium, GOP U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus was asked by the House Majority Whip last week where he stood on the bill.

"I told them yesterday I'm undecided," Rothfus, R-12, Sewickley, said Friday.

"I want to make sure that this legislation is going to begin the process of giving consumers more choice, more flexibility away from Washington mandates," he said.

Rothfus, who has made repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, a legislative priority since being elected in 2012, said he continued to "drill down" on the details in the Republican proposal that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office determined would leave 24 million more Americans without health-care coverage by 2026, including 14 million fewer receiving Medicaid.

But, Rothfus said the Congressional Budget Office "has a history of being grotesquely off on its numbers," and millions of people are choosing not to buy insurance because they do not like the plans offered.

The answer, he said, lies in decentralizing the "command and control" in Washington, D.C., and giving Americans more flexibility and options beyond the platinum, gold, silver and bronze exchange plans.

"If that's working for your family, great, but it's not working for many, many families," Rothfus said.

Rothfus said providing tax credits to encourage consumers to purchase insurance is a good idea because "it'll help people on the margins."

In weighing the merits of the bill, Rothfus said his focus will remain on the individual market. "What is going to be the impact in the individual market of these reforms?" he said.

One provision in the Republican proposal gives tax breaks to insurance companies that pay their CEOs more than $500,000 annually. Rothfus said he is "looking at" that, but remains opposed to taxpayer money being used as a "backstop" for private businesses.

Critics have said a provision charging higher premiums for people who go without coverage for two months would force younger, healthier people out of the market, causing a "death spiral" for the industry.

When it comes to Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, have been at the forefront of bashing the House GOP plan and warning of dire consequences for the state if it passes.

On Wednesday, Casey held a press conference in which he labeled the American Health Care Act "Trumpcare" and said it would cause seniors to be "robbed" while enriching insurance and pharmaceutical companies and the wealthy via tax cuts.

"This opens the door for extreme Republicans to do what they wanted to do for a long time, to cut the Medicare benefits in the future," Casey said.

Rothfus replied that a stability fund would help states with $100 billion over 10 years. His office later said Pennsylvania would receive $529 million in 2018 through the fund.

"He should start to offer some solutions with what we're seeing with these escalating premiums and crushing costs," Rothfus said of Casey. "What's his solution to address the problems? It's unfortunate. People need to start offering solutions."

Like other lawmakers from Pennsylvania, Rothfus has been working to address the opioid crisis facing communities, and he said Friday that he would argue to expand programs, not reduce them.

While the political bickering gets the spotlight, Rothfus insisted that there isn't one member of the House who does not want people to have access to health-care insurance.

"There are different policy ideas as to how to achieve that end," he said.

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