- Health care agencies get cut across the board: The Obama Administration looked to boost budgets at the Centers for Disease Control, the Food & Drug Administration and the National Institutes for Health. This is not the case under the GOP plan, which calls for a $1.6 billion cut to current NIH funding, a $1.39 billion cut to CDC’s budget, $458 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid bottom line and a $241 million cut from the current FDA budget for good measure.
House Republican’s are looking to cut $8.5 billion from the overall Dept. of Health and Human Services budget, as opposed to the $1.3 billion cut the agency received in Obama’s budget. - The total destruction of Obamacare: The GOP budget proposal calls for the elimination of the 1099 health care provision and carves $340 million out of CMS’ budget related to “Obamacare.” Probably not much of a surprise, considering they’ve already voted to repeal it.
- Community health centers might want to try a bake sale to raise money: GOP lawmakers are carving some $1 billion out of the budget for community health centers, which provide pay-what-you-can healthcare for people without health insurance. The National Association of Community Health Centers called it the “equivalent to terminating all health care to the entire population of Chicago, or to everyone living in the states of Wyoming, Vermont, North and South Dakota, and Alaska combined.”
- Promise rings for everyone: Not really, but if the GOP is successful in cutting out the $110 million in grants HHS began awarding to cut down on rising teen pregnancy rates, abstinence programs might end up being the most affordable option.
- No Czar’s or cool stimulus signs allowed: GOP lawmakers prohibited funding for a healthcare czar. The same goes for the “Climate Change Czar.” In addition, GOP lawmakers want to remove all “signage promoting ARRA programs and projects.”