Toomey calls bill a work in progress; Casey, Wolf criticize plan

June 23--U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, of Pennsylvania, one of the 13 Republicans who met behind closed doors to craft a Senate bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, defended the proposal Thursday.

In a phone briefing, he admitted the Senate bill is a work in progress, but called it "a constructive step forward" that would stabilize America's health care system, which he said is "collapsing under the restrictions imposed by Obamacare."

Toomey said in some cases, Pennsylvanians had seen a 120 percent increase in premiums. "We had to do something. We want to move toward a consumer-driven market. Hopefully, when we're through, people will have choices," he said.

Toomey's Senate colleague, Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey, and the state's governor, Tom Wolf, also a Democrat, lashed out at the proposed bill, saying it would result in millions of Americans ultimately losing health care insurance.

"This health care scheme sells out the middle class, hurts seniors and children and devastates individuals with disabilities to finance tax breaks for the very rich," Casey said in a statement. "The bill decimates Medicaid, which provides health care for over 722,000 Pennsylvanians with a disability and 1.1 million children."

Casey said the bill is nearly identical to the House bill "that raises premiums for middle-class families, cuts nursing home care for seniors and will force children with disabilities to be institutionalized. This scheme still includes an age tax on Americans between the ages of 50 and 64, undermines protections for those with pre-existing conditions and takes away coverage for substance abuse treatment, which is vital in combating the opioid epidemic."

Harsh criticism also was doled out by Wolf. "The deeper and more devastating cuts to Medicaid in this plan make it even crueler than the House plan," he said. "Some politicians in Washington are completely disconnected from the reality of how cutting Medicaid will damage real Pennsylvania families and communities. Seniors in need of home or nursing care, children with disabilities and rural hospitals and working families relying on Medicaid will all be left behind."

"Over the past few weeks," Wolf continued, "I have joined Republican and Democratic governors in opposing cuts to Medicaid, but we have been shut out of the process and unable to give our residents a voice. It is time for Washington Republicans to restart and begin listening to the patients, doctors, states and communities who will ultimately shoulder the burden of their decisions."

Kendra Aucker, president and CEO of Evangelical Community Hospital, Lewisburg, said Thursday night that it's too early in the process to say with certainty how proposed legislation would impact the hospital's ability to care for the community.

"We join other Pennsylvania hospitals in expressing concern that the proposed legislation stands to leave hundreds of thousands of our most vulnerable populations without dependable health insurance and sustainable access to care," she added.

Email comments to rdandes@dailyitem.com. Follow Dandes on Twitter @rdandes.

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