Wolf sends letter to White House opposing AHCA

Governor Tom Wolf has already been vocal about his opposition to the American Health Care Act — the Affordable Care Act replacement written and passed by Congressional Republicans.

But this week, he put it in writing.

Wolf sent a letter to the Trump administration detailing how the AHCA’s already complicating the state’s budgeting process and could derail its efforts battling the opioid crisis.

The letter is addressed to Jared Kushner, who’s the Trump administration’s point person on the national opioid epidemic.

In it, Wolf argued the AHCA would be a blow to state programs that help people addicted to opioids, because it lets states treat drug problems as preexisting conditions that don’t require coverage. 

But he also noted that regardless of the resolution, the ongoing federal uproar healthcare is making it near-impossible right now to budget for healthcare costs on the state level.

“I’m always thinking about what I might do from a contingent point of view, and there are a lot of different options. But at this point, we simply don’t know what is going to come out of Washington,” he said.

Pennsylvania’s in the midst of negotiating changes to its own health care structure. Chiefly, the governor’s proposed budget would consolidate the state’s four large health departments — a move designed to save money.