LEXINGTON — U.S. Congressman Pat Tiberi (R) discussed healthcare, spending and tax reform to a group of community leaders during a legislative luncheon on Thursday, April 13 at the Lexington Event Center.
Tiberi says he’s focusing on the bigger pieces of the pie when it comes to budget reform. He said debates over President Donald Trump’s “skinny budget” were “discretionary” and argued that larger reform needs to take place to be sustainable.
“We have these big fights over a smaller and smaller piece of the pie, but that doesn’t solve the bigger problem,” he said in regards to discretionary spending. “What we aren’t dealing with is the growth of the pie.”
Tiberi touched on healthcare reform, which has been a hot-button issue in Washington since the collapse of the Republicans’ healthcare bill in March. Tiberi’s plan to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA) was discussed exclusively with Richland Source in February.
“Some of my colleagues want to do nothing and let it (the ACA) collapse… and then go in and clean up the mess,” Tiberi said. “The problem with that is these are real people.
“We are going to see costs increase, premiums go up (and) fewer insurance companies. We can’t just stand by and watch that explode.”
Specifically looking at Medicaid, Tiberi supports reform that will phase out the expansion of Medicaid by January 2020.
“It’s a good deal for the governors, good deal for the states, but not sustainable for the federal government,” he said.
In a February interview with Richland Source, Tiberi pointed out that a majority of counties that benefited from Medicaid expansion, in Ohio and elsewhere, were counties that Trump carried in the election.
“So the Affordable Care Act they’re in favor of, but they don’t like Obamacare, even though the reality is they benefitted from Obamacare,” Tiberi said on Feb. 9. “We want to make sure people who got coverage through the expansion of Medicaid are still covered in a more market-oriented way, and not a government-oriented way.”
People who are enrolled in Medicaid prior to January 2020 would not be affected by the proposed Medicaid reform, but anyone enrolled after that point would be signed on at the traditional rate. Ohio’s is 62 percent.
“Everybody who is in the program stays. Anyone who wants to sign up after that, it’s up to the governor,” Tiberi said. “He can request a waiver for Medicaid expansion, which they don’t like and I get that, but states have balanced budgets. We don’t.”
He explained the reform as a way to make sure the states have more “skin in the game.”
To close, Tiberi also talked briefly about tax reform. His three goals for the reform are to grow the economy, to make filing taxes an easier process, and to remake the image of the IRS into a customer-focused organization.
