PORTLAND, Maine - GOP Gov. Paul LePage is telling Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan that the country needs a truly conservative, free-market replacement of former President Barack Obama's signature health care law.
In a Tuesday letter to Ryan, LePage says he's not encouraged by the House GOP proposal and said it appears congressional Republicans are "catering to big-government lobbyists and politicians in states that took Obamacare's welfare-expansion bait.''
The governor wants a complete rollback of Medicaid expansion for non-disabled adults.
LePage said block grants would let states prioritize a "smaller but costlier population'' instead of spreading Medicaid dollars among more people.
He said Medicaid should include asset tests, work requirements, co-pays, premium contributions and missed appointment fees.
His administration has asked Republican President Donald Trump's administration to green-light such ideas in Maine.
