In this Jan. 8, 2016, file photo, Gov. Paul LePage speaks at a news conference at the State House in Augusta, Maine. GOP Gov. Paul LePage is telling Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan that the country needs a truly conservative, free-market replacement of former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

PORTLAND (AP) — GOP Gov. Paul LePage is telling Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan that the country needs a truly conservative, free-market replacement of former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.

In a Tuesday letter to Ryan, LePage says he’s not encouraged by the House GOP proposal and said it appears congressional Republicans are “catering to big-government lobbyists and politicians in states that took Obamacare’s welfare-expansion bait.”

The governor wants a complete rollback of Medicaid expansion for non-disabled adults.

LePage said block grants would let states prioritize a “smaller but costlier population” instead of spreading Medicaid dollars among more people.

He said Medicaid should include asset tests, work requirements, co-pays, premium contributions and missed appointment fees.

His administration has asked Republican President Donald Trump’s administration to green-light such ideas in Maine.

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