Ohio Gov. John Kasich, R, said the $45 million Senate Republicans have proposed to include in the Better Care Reconciliation Act to combat the nationwide opioid epidemic is inadequate, Politico reported.
During an interview on ABC's "This Week," Mr. Kasich called the extra money, which would be spent over a decade, "anemic." "It's like — as I said to [Ohio] Sen. [Rob] Portman at one point, it's like spitting in the ocean. It's not enough," he said, according to the report.
"But that's what they're going to use, these efforts to try to buy people off, and they'll throw big, high numbers, but they won't understand what the impact is on the program. And that's why I continue to speak out," he added.
Mr. Kasich expanded Medicaid in Ohio under the ACA, and has warned that cutting federal funding to the program will worsen the opioid crisis. He also rejected the idea of first repealing the ACA and creating a replacement plan at a later day, which President Donald Trump suggested last week. Although the ACA needs "significant changes," Mr. Kasich said tearing down the law without a solid replacement plan would "leave people without what they need," according to the report.