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Portman Indicates Support for Another GOP Obamacare Replacement

A photo of Sen. Rob Portman.
U.S. SENATE

Ohio’s U.S. senators appear to be split on the latest attempt to repeal and replace the federal Affordable Care Act. Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown has been against it, and Republican Sen. Rob Portman appears to be heading toward a "yes" vote.

In a conference call with reporters, Rob Portman seemed to be leaning toward supporting what’s been called the Cassidy-Graham bill, which would cap Medicaid, reduce federal funding and distribute it to states as block grants to use as they see fit.

“I think Ohio will do a good job – better than the federal government, probably because we know what the needs are, closer to what those needs are, like the opioid addiction,” he said.

Ohio and the other 31 states that expanded Medicaid would see that funding phased out.

Gov. John Kasich tweeted out that the bill “eliminates the guardrails that protect some of the most vulnerable among us.” And it also won’t include $45 billion in additional funding for the opioid crisis, which the GOP’s previous repeal-and-replace bill would have.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.