House, Senate Republican Leaders Near ACA Spending Fight

The ACA risk corridors program was supposed to ease insurers’ fears about participating in the ACA public exchange program by using payments from thriving issuers to help issuers that did poorly in 2014, 2015 and 2016. HHS has had trouble collecting payments from thriving exchange plan issuers and has been able to make only about 15% of the payments promised for 2014. It has not made any of the payments promised for 2015 and 2016.

The Senate appropriations bill would also eliminate funding for the Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board. The 15-member board was supposed to help come up with ideas for controlling Medicare costs. In theory, the recommendations could override federal law.

Other bill provisions would require the federal government to publish more information about Affordable Care Act-related spending, and about the number of federal employees and contractors working on implementing, administering or enforcing the ACA, according to the Republican summary of the bill.

Committee Democrats said the committee’s version of the bill “includes full funding for the ACA Navigator program and other outreach and enrollment support programs.”

The subcommittee’s version of the bill “does not include new language restricting HHS’ authority to administer or enforce the ACA,” committee Democrats said.

In the past, the House has often proposed sharp cuts in domestic spending programs, and the Senate has proposed measures that would keep spending roughly at prior-year levels. The Senate has often succeeded at restoring most or all of the funding cut by the House.

—Read The Megadeal Congress Should Strike This Month on ThinkAdvisor.

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