U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy says a sweeping proposal to overhaul health care he's co-sponsoring with two Republican colleagues is "about the only game left in town" to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Cassidy, a physician and Louisiana Republican, said he hopes to push forward the plan — which he's working on with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Nevada Sen. Dean Heller — by the end of September.

The Cassidy-Graham-Heller legislation, which hasn't yet been scored by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, would scrap the ACA's individual and employer mandates to buy health insurance while largely block-granting Medicaid funding for states.

Speaking at the Baton Rouge Press Club on Monday, Cassidy called Medicaid "a black hole" for government spending — at both the state and federal levels — and blamed the health care program for rising tuition at public universities, infrastructure spending and other needs because Medicaid costs crowd out other priorities.