Ohio Gov. John Kasich said that cutting coverage will not save money in the long run because individuals without coverage will simply get medical care at emergency rooms and leave their bills unpaid. | AP Photo Kasich calls on GOP to work with Dems on Obamacare repeal

The process of finding a fix for America’s health care system should not be a partisan process, Ohio Gov. John Kasich wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Friday. Instead, he said, “a true and lasting reform of the health insurance system must be accomplished by bringing the two sides together.”

Thus far, Republicans in Washington have taken a different approach from the one suggested by Kasich, beginning the process of moving legislation intended to repeal and replace Obamacare through the GOP-controlled House and into the GOP-controlled Senate. But even with Republicans in position to move the bill without Democratic support, some in the GOP have expressed opposition to the bill.


The bill introduced earlier this week, the first of a three-step process in undoing Obamacare, can be passed through a budgetary process called reconciliation, allowing it to be approved with just 50 votes in the Senate. Subsequent steps are likely to require the Senate’s more common 60-vote threshold.

By moving forward on health care legislation without the help of Democrats, Kasich said Republicans are “starting down the same unilateral path” Democrats did when they passed Obamacare in 2010, one that “can only further divide the nation.” He recalled his tenure in the House, where as chairman of the Budget Committee, and with the help of Democrats, he was able to make progress on Pentagon spending and welfare while balancing the budget.

In terms of specific policy prescriptions, Kasich said cutting coverage will not save money in the long run because individuals without coverage will simply get medical care at emergency rooms and leave their bills unpaid.

Cuts to Medicaid, a provision of the GOP bill that some Republican senators have said will prevent them from supporting the bill, are also ineffective, Kasich said. Such cuts put “at risk our ability to treat the drug-addicted, mentally ill and working poor who now have access to a dependable source of care,” he said.

Pointing to his own home state, Kasich said Medicaid need not be a runaway train in terms of spending. In Ohio, Kasich said he has managed to shrink annual Medicaid spending growth from 9 percent when he took office to less than 3 percent today. The amount spent per member, Kasich said, has been level for the past six years.

“If we are to establish a lasting and successful replacement for Obamacare, Republicans should reach across the aisle for help, and Democrats should accept the offer,” the Ohio governor said. “Cutting Democrats out of the process will only make the results less effective. And if Democrats refuse to cooperate with Republicans, they will be forgoing the opportunity to solve a core problem for millions of Americans.”