Draft measure takes aim at reform law implementation

A draft 2012 funding bill Thursday from the House Appropriations Committee would rescind more than $8 billion in funding to implement the healthcare reform law and prohibit funding for CMS' Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, the office overseeing state insurance exchanges.

Specifically for HHS, the committee's draft fiscal 2012 Labor and HHS bill included about $70.2 billion in new discretionary budget authority next year, which is about $200 million below last year's level. It's also about $2.8 billion less—about 4%—than what the president had requested in his fiscal 2012 budget. The legislation includes a general provision to prohibit funding to implement the health reform law “until such time as all legal challenges to the law have been concluded, and rescinds a total of more than $8.6 billion” in funding for the law, the committee said in a news release about the funding.

Overall, the legislation to fund federal programs within HHS and the Labor and Education departments includes a total of $153.4 billion in discretionary funding, which is about $4 billion below the 2011 enacted funding level and $27.5 billion below what President Barack Obama had requested in his budget for next year.

The draft bill needs to be considered by a subcommittee, but that date has not yet been scheduled. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed its 2012 funding bill last week.