Mike Pence pressed Obama on health care Friday. <\/p>\n
STORY HIGHLIGHTS <\/p>\n
Washington (CNN) -- As soon as Air Force One touched down in Indiana on Friday, Gov. Mike Pence met President Barack Obama on the tarmac with a plea: Expand the state's access to government-sponsored health insurance. <\/p>\n
The catch: Pence wants to do it with a conservative twist. <\/p>\n
At least, that's how he's selling his proposal. And his political future could hinge on whether the first-term Republican can convince conservatives that he's not just rebranding Obamacare. <\/p>\n
Pence has spent much of his first two years in office trying to strike a bargain on one of the health care law's core components. Indiana will expand Medicaid coverage, Pence says, but only if it's allowed to do it through a tweaked version called the \"Healthy Indiana Plan,\" which also requires users to make small payments into health savings accounts. <\/p>\n
He spent five minutes chatting with Obama at the Evansville airport, lobbying to have the Health and Human Services Department green-light Indiana's request, before the president visited a factory in Princeton, Indiana. <\/p>\n
\"The president and I talked through a number of substantive issues that have arisen in our discussions over the Healthy Indiana Plan,\" Pence said afterward, \"and I appreciated the opportunity to call the matter to his personal attention.\" <\/p>\n
He said he also spoke last night with top Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, and will meet Monday with HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell. <\/p>\n
Pence's focus on a health care expansion is at the center of his effort to evolve from a firebrand conservative congressman to an executive with a record of accomplishment ahead of a White House run that many Republicans close to him see as a question of when -- not if. <\/p>\n
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Why is this GOP governor talking health care with Obama?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mike Pence pressed Obama on health care Friday. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Washington (CNN) -- As soon as Air Force One touched down in Indiana on Friday, Gov. Mike Pence met President Barack Obama on the tarmac with a plea: Expand the state's access to government-sponsored health insurance Continue reading