Just Before Healthcare Vote, Toomey Calls Medicaid Fiscally Unsustainable
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Pennsylvania US Senator Pat Toomey visited Republican-friendly Chester County, for a roundtable discussion with business leaders in West Chester. Much of the conversation centered on the Senate about to take another stab at a healthcare reform vote, as early as Tuesday.
One of the sticky points is Senator Toomey's push to scale back Medicaid spending, which he says is "fiscally unsustainable."
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"It's already growing much faster than the American economy; and everything the government does has to be supported by the economy," he said. "So, that's not viable."
Senator Toomey is seeking to put a cap on the rate of growth of per-beneficiary Medicaid spending. He argues the change is needed to rein in rising Medicaid costs, and that states should pay more of the load.
"We are going to ask the states to pay their fair share," he said.
Critics, including Governor Wolf argue the changes would result in millions of people losing their health coverage, including the poor, disabled, and children.:
"I know that Governor Wolf likes this expansion when it costs him 10 cents on the dollar to buy it," he said.
On last week's failure of the draft Senate bill on health care reform, Toomey said "history will harshly judge this Congress for not beginning the process of replacing Obamacare," which he says is "failing."
He says lawmakers failed to put Medicaid on a sustainable trajectory" when it "had the opportunity to do so."
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On other matters, he favors sanctions against Chinese banks "facilitating business with North Korea. He says the Communist North has crossed a dangerous threshold on its nuclear weapons program.:
"It's my view that we have to be tighten the noose around North Korea as much as we possibly can," he said.
Toomey says "North Korea is well on its way to being able to deliver nuclear weapons on the tips of ICBMs."
