GOP weighs health care moves to pay for Iran war [View all]

Source: msn/Axios

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Republicans are considering reductions in federal health spending to help pay for a budget bill containing as much as $200 billion to fund the Iran war and immigration enforcement.

Why it matters: New efforts to rein in health programs are sure to be controversial and open the GOP up to election-year attacks that they're cutting health care to pay for an unpopular war.

Driving the news: Top House Republicans are looking at health care offsets addressing fraud in federal programs, as they did during last year's debate over the budget law that made deep cuts to federal Medicaid spending and imposed first-time work requirements.

"There's other items we're looking at right now, especially in the areas of fraud and waste and abuse that we're working through with our members," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told Axios

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House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) is reviving an idea that was considered last year to fund Affordable Care Act payments known as cost-sharing reductions.

The Congressional Budget Office previously found the move would lower overall benchmark ACA premiums by 11% but result in 300,000 more uninsured people.

It would have the effect of cutting the subsidy amount that some enrollees receive, thereby increasing out-of-pocket premium costs, while saving the government over $30 billion.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/gop-weighs-health-care-moves-to-pay-for-iran-war/ar-AA1ZIcxv