On October 23, the House approved, 240-189, H.R. 3762, the Restoring Americans’ Health Care Freedom Reconciliation Act. The measure, approved by the Budget Committee on October 9 (see The Source, 10/9/12), contains recommendations to cut the federal budget by an estimated $78.9 billion between FY2016 and 2025.
Congress passed its FY2016 budget (S. Con. Res. 11) in May, which instructed certain committees – the House Committees on Education and the Workforce, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means and the Senate Committees on Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions – to reduce the deficit (see The Source, 5/8/15).
According to the Budget Committee report, the measure would repeal the Prevention and Public Health Fund, enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148). As amended, the measure also would impose a one-year moratorium on federal payments to entities that perform abortions and whose federal and state Medicaid expenditures exceed $350 million. Funding for abortions performed in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the health and life of the mother would remain intact. The legislation also would increase funding for community health centers by $235 million.
