Funding for health law is again on GOP chopping block

Oct 1 2011

House Republicans released a draft 2012 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education spending bill on Thursday. The measure, which is currently deadlocked in committee, would block funds necessary to continue implementing the 2010 health law.

Politico: Republicans Target Health, Education For Cuts
House Republicans on Thursday released their draft 2012 budget for labor, health and education programs, a giant $153.4 billion measure that moves toward the Democrats in total dollars but still challenges President Barack Obama almost across the board on labor rules and his prized education and health care reforms (Rogers, 9/29).

The Hill: Draft Spending Bill Would Defund Obama Health Care Law
House Republicans released a draft spending bill Thursday that would cut off funding for many parts of the health care reform law, though the bill remains deadlocked in the Appropriations Committee. The draft legislation would attempt to derail implementation of the law. It would specifically block any money from going to the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight -; the office handling the bulk of the implementation effort -; as well as the recently disbanded office in charge of setting up the controversial CLASS program (Baker, 9/29).

Modern Healthcare: Draft Measure Takes Aim at Reform Law Implementation
A draft 2012 funding bill Thursday from the House Appropriations Committee would rescind more than $8 billion in funding to implement the health care reform law and prohibit funding for CMS' Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, the office overseeing state insurance exchanges. Specifically for HHS, the committee's draft fiscal 2012 Labor and HHS bill included about $70.2 billion in new discretionary budget authority next year, which is about $200 million below last year's level. It's also about $2.8 billion less -; about 4 percent -; than what the president had requested in his fiscal 2012 budget. The legislation includes a general provision to prohibit funding to implement the health reform law "until such time as all legal challenges to the law have been concluded, and rescinds a total of more than $8.6 billion" in funding for the law, the committee said in a news release about the funding (Zigmond, 9/29).