Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) voted for Trumpcare on Thursday along with most of his fellow House Republicans, while admitting to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he hadn’t read the bill. It was fine, though, he insisted, because his staff had read it and briefed him on its contents. “We rely on our staff,” he said, “and we rely on our committees, and I'm comfortable that I understand this bill in its entirety, Wolf, without poring through every word.” That wasn’t quite true, as it turns out—in fact, Collins didn’t understand what the law he was voting to repeal was doing for his constituents, and he didn’t understand how his vote could hurt them.
Then again, when a Buffalo News reporter offered him information his staff had apparently failed to pass along, Collins didn’t seem too concerned:
Told by a Buffalo News reporter that the state's largest loss of federal funds under the bill would be $3 billion annually that goes to the state's Essential Health Plan, Collins said: "Explain that to me."
The Essential Plan is an optional program under Obamacare, offered only by New York and Minnesota, that provides low-cost health insurance to low- and middle-income people who don't qualify for Medicaid. State Health Department figures show that more than 19,000 people in Erie and Niagara counties were on the Essential Plan in January.
Asked by The Buffalo News if he was aware of the bill's cut in funding to the Essential Plan, Collins said: "No. But it doesn't surprise me for you to tell me that there were two states in the nation that were taking advantage of some other waiver program and New York was one of the two states."
So Collins’ staff hadn’t let him know the full deal, and his comfort “that I understand this bill in its entirety” was misplaced. But it sounds like he had his talking points all ready, and his talking points were “New York is terrible and it’s a typically sleazy move for it to be trying to offer more people low-cost health coverage.”
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