On January 5th, Representative John Fleming and 27 co-sponsors introduced H.R. 38, titled "To rescind funds appropriated to the Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund under the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010." On February 1st, the Bill was referred to the House Subcommittee on Health. On Febrary 5th, the Bill was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. You can find more information at Thomas.gov.
According to a February 4th press release by Representative Fleming, this is th purpose of the Bill:
"to rescind the Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund, a $1 billion fund appropriated as part of the Reconciliation package to pay for federal administrative expenses at the IRS and the Department of Health and Human Services to carry out the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU: As of the end of November 2010, $40.8 million of these funds have been obligated to provide for administrative expenses of the Health and Human Services and the IRS to implement the new health care reform law. By rescinding this fund, $900 million would be returned to the treasury, thereby reducing the federal deficit.
While this represents only a small fraction of the astronomical cost of the new health care law, it would have a substantial affect on implementation as it removes the funding source for administrative expenses in carrying out the laws."
I suspect this bill will get through the House easily. It will be interesting to see what the Senate does with it.
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