On March 15, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce approved a measure that, if enacted, would make significant cuts to Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) financing and repeal the Prevention and Public Health Fund.
H.R. 4725, the Common Sense Savings Act of 2016, passed through the committee with a 28-19 vote. Committee Democrats offered a number of amendments, primarily to protect programs funded under the Prevention and Public Health Fund, but none was successful. Specifically, the legislation would
- eliminate an Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhancement to the Medicaid federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) for prisoners;
- extend a previous Medicaid threshold applied for determining acceptable provider taxes;
- sunset the ACA increase for an enhanced FMAP under CHIP; and
- repeal the Prevention and Public Health Fund.
America’s Essential Hospitals issued a statement for the record strongly opposing this legislation and encouraging committee members not to support it, given the potential impact on essential hospitals. The association will continue to track movement of this legislation.
Contact Beth Feldpush, senior vice president of policy and advocacy, at bfeldpush@essentialhospitals.org or 202.585.0111 with questions.
