Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said he’s disappointed the latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act has failed.
On Tuesday, Ducey made the comment after Republican leadership announced they did not have enough votes to pass the Graham-Cassidy plan.
Ducey had supported the legislation despite heavy opposition from the medical community and others in his state.
In the last week, reports came out showing the bill’s block grant approach would reduce Arizona’s federal funding by about $10 billion between 2020 and 2026, not to mention shed tens of thousands of jobs.
Ducey had pushed back against such dire warnings. He said he still wants Congress to take a similar approach and give states more control of Medicaid dollars.
“We will continue to advocate for what we see is better health care reform. I am a fan of the concept of taking these dollars and moving them back to the state level," Ducey said. "We are able to get things done in a bipartisan way."
Sen. Jeff Flake had favored the Graham-Cassidy bill, too, while Sen. John McCain said he could not vote for it.
Ducey said he always expected McCain to "make up his own mind'' on these kind of issues, but, "We've got citizens that need a fix now. So to me the result happening sooner rather than later is more important than that. But back to the drawing board. And I guess we can go to work with the Senate having a priority on regular order."
Ducey had praised the plan because it returned funds and decision-making to the states.
