Gov. Walker said he discussed Affordable Care Act replacement over lunch with Pres. Trump

WASHINGTON -- Gov. Scott Walker said on Fox News Sunday that he discussed an Affordable Care Act replacement over lunch with President Donald Trump at the White House on Saturday, February 25th.

“It’s a concern we all have. I mean, we as governors, we want personalized patient-centered health care that treats people not like a number, but like a human being. And I think that’s a common sense that we want and, certainly, something the president talked about and was very interested in,” Walker said.

Walker later tweeted a photo of him, Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott and President Trump in the Oval Office.

During his Sunday talk show appearance, Walker reiterated his view that the federal government should give more power over Medicaid to the states through block grants.

“Governors are more effective. They’re more efficient. They’re more accountable,” Walker said. “For years, governors have said, ‘Give us the tools not just on health care, but on education, transportation, and other issues. Now is our chance to do it.”

Walker appeared on the show with Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, who argued the opposite position on Medicaid block grants. McAuliffe said a repeal of the current health care law, known as Obamacare, would have a negative impact on his state.

“We don’t like block grants,” McAuliffe said. “If you’re going to block grant us, we’re going to have a set number and what happens if we have a recession? What happens if the stock market goes down? We at the state level have to incur those costs.”

More than 200,000 Wisconsinites have gained health insurance coverage through Obamacare, according to statistics kept by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Walker did not directly answer when moderator Chris Wallace asked if he could assure those people that they would maintain coverage under a future replacement. Instead, Walker pointed out that he had turned down federal Medicaid expansion dollars for Wisconsin while guaranteeing coverage to every Wisconsinite below the federal poverty level.

“Under our plan, we have one of the lowest rates of uninsured – in fact, one of the highest rates of overall insured in the nation, because we used reforms to help get people into the marketplace and to make things work there,” Walker said. “I think that’s exactly what we want as a nation.”