Snyder praises Trump, says Obamacare not working

Feb. 27--WASHINGTON -- Gov. Rick Snyder today praised what he called "unprecedented" collaboration with President Donald Trump's administration and Congress as they look at ways of reforming the Affordable Care Act, adding that what has become known as Obamacare across the U.S. has failed to adequately serve Americans.

Speaking after he and several other members of the National Governors Association met with Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other members of Trump's administration, Snyder spoke about the 2010 health care reform law in what may be his toughest rhetoric to date, saying "it hasn't worked" and that insurance access markets are "collapsing."

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"Now is the time to step up and say ... can we make things better?" Snyder said outside the West Wing. "And that's where I appreciate the confidence we've been shown by the president to reach out to the governors. ... I'm in my seventh year as a governor and I've never seen anything like this in terms of outreach by both the administration and Congress."

Snyder has generally been seen as a Republican governor who wants any move to repeal Obamacare to involve some level of accommodation, especially as it touches on Healthy Michigan, the Medicaid expansion program he pushed for under the Affordable Care Act that covers more than 600,000 low-income Michiganders.

Last month, Snyder was among a group of governors talking with U.S. senators about reforming the Affordable Care Act. He also urged Michigan residents in his State of the State speech last month to speak out on behalf of Healthy Michigan, which requires beneficiaries to contribute based on their income, with payments reduced for healthy behavior.

Snyder again touted Healthy Michigan at the White House today but he noted more pointedly his belief that Obamacare -- the signature legislative accomplishment of former President Barack Obama and what was then a Congress controlled by Democrats -- was largely about access and that "we're seeing a collapse of the access marketplace."

Across the nation, states have reported large premium increases and a shrinking number of insurers willing to take part in the so-called marketplaces to offer individual coverage under Obamacare. In Michigan, premiums for individual coverage plans for the current year went up nearly 17% while the number of insurers offering plans on the marketplaces dropped. The Affordable Care Act mandates levels of coverage in many instances.

Snyder said today he hopes Healthy Michigan can be improved upon to provide more "flexibility" in coverage, though he didn't offer specifics. Between Healthy Michigan and individual and small group insurance, more than a million people are insured in Michigan under Obamacare.

Snyder, who spoke outside the White House with governors from Arizona, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin, said as Trump and Republicans look at how to follow through on a promise to repeal Obamacare without leaving millions of people uninsured, he believes that the quality of the health care provided -- as well as the impact of policies on the overall cost -- needs to be better taken into account.

None of the governors spoke in any detail about what replacement plans might be in the works, though Trump is expected to touch on the topic when he speaks to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night in Washington.

Snyder said policymakers should be excited about the opportunity to improve the law and what he sees as Trump's willingness to consider ideas from the governors in doing so.

"Ultimately, it's about compassion," Snyder said. "We're talking about people's lives."

Contact Todd Spangler at 703-854-8947 or at tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.

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