House Appropriations Committee Approves Draft Bill Affecting ACA Funding For 2018

On July 18, 2017, the House Appropriations Committee approved a draft Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill for 2018 (Committee Report). The bill includes a number of provisions relevant to the Affordable Care Act. It would:

Require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a website providing detailed information as to grants provided through the Prevention and Public Health Fund;
Require HHS to provide information on all full-time equivalent employees and contractors who have been engaged in implementing the ACA since its enactment, subject to certain exceptions;
Require HHS to provide information regarding expenditures for the exchanges since the enactment of the ACA, as well as enrollment information for the exchanges;
Prohibit the use of funds from the Medicare trust funds or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ program management account for funding risk corridor obligations;
Provide a report on how the ACA’s preventive services requirement will impact eligibility for discretionary HHS programs;
Transfer funds appropriated under the Prevention and Public Health Fund to other specified purposes as identified in the committee report;
Prohibit the use of Prevention and Public Health Funds for lobbying;
Prohibit user fees to fund the exchanges;
Prohibit funding for the navigator program;
Prohibit funding for implementing the ACA, except for certain provisions pertaining to Medicare rate-set...

Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 24, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Timothy Jost Tags: Following the ACA Source Type: blogs