The Senate Republicans' healthcare bill would be devastating to Sen. Joe Manchin's home state of West Virginia, he said Thursday, and he's pleased that his Republican counterpart, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, also opposes the plan as written.
"She understands our demographics as well as I do," Manchin told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "There's not one part of our state that hasn't been affected. If you're young, you are affected. If you're old, you're affected. If you're opiate-addicted, you're affected."
The government, he continued, "should be your partner, not your enemy."
"Come to West Virginia," said Manchin. "Let me show you how real people who struggled and fought all their life and worked hard are having challenges. Let me show you people that want to help themselves and want to basically move forward with just a little bit of assistance. The government should be your partner, not your enemy, and you can't start out by saying okay, I'm going to give all the tax credits back. I'm going to give all this money back that we were trying to move forward trying to get forward and get more people insured and taken care of and a better, healthier lifestyle."
Manchin complained that nobody is trying to find a middle stance for a pathway forward, and said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's claims Democrats don't want to work with him on the bill are "not accurate."
"I am one that wants to work with my friends," Manchin said, noting that he has been speaking with several Republican senators about the matter, including Capito, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, and Nevada Sen. Dean Heller.
"We want to fix this thing and [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer wants to fix this thing," said Manchin.
Manchin said he also has spoken with President Donald Trump on healthcare, and told him that he could not agree with repealing Obamacare.
"[I said] we're not going to repeal it and throw it out and start it over, and have anything similar to what we have now that's helping people," said Manchin, and that he asked Trump if he could be the "Mr. Fix-it president."
"In my heart of hearts, I know he wants to fix this thing, but the repeal has been on the table," said Manchin. "I guess the base has been pushing it. We have to get down to where, okay, first of all, can you take off the $600 billion of tax rebates give backs to the wealthiest? Can you take away just a cutting for the sake of cutting and throwing people off services they need?"
Manchin said in West Virginia, there are many people who had to use emergency rooms in the past for their primary healthcare choice, and that's the most expensive form of medical care there is.
"Some of my working people who never had insurance, had to claim worker's comp to get it," said Manchin. "They had no preventive care. We never gave them one word of instructions. They're still going to the emergency room. There's savings. Just work with us."
Manchin said he knows Capito wants to save Medicaid and that she'll work with him on it, and he knows moderates like Collins, Dean, Sen. Rob Portman, and Sen. Lindsey Graham "know it needs to be saved and fixed."
There is no compassion, or "heart and soul," to the Senate GOP reform plan.
"There is no empathy to this bill there," said Manchin. "There is no compassion in this bill. I want to hold people accountable and responsible for their actions. If I'm giving you something, I want you to appreciate it, protect it and use it in a most responsible way."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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