Spending bill funds Affordable Care Act programs, Ebola fight
Nearly $5.4 billion is set aside to help fight the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, while the CDC will get $6.9 billion in total.
A $1.1 trillion Congressional spending deal approved Wednesday night includes millions for healthcare related services, but holds spending on programs tied to the Affordable Care Act.
A $1.1 trillion Congressional spending deal approved Wednesday night includes millions for healthcare related services, but holds spending on programs tied to the Affordable Care Act.
To start, nearly $5.4 billion is set aside to help fight the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, while the Centers for Disease Control will get $6.9 billion in total, including $30 million earmarked to help fund Ebola-related work.
The bill does not strip any funding from programs tied to the Affordable Care Act, but it also does not provide any extra funding for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The deal stipulates that the Secretary of Health and Human Services create a website to track where all funding tied to the ACA is spent.
Regarding Medicare, the bill does provide nearly $15 million to fund the department’s rural hospital flexibility grants program, which supports improvement projects for these smaller providers, namely modernizing practices through the implementation of telehealth, electronic health records or other upgrades.
[See also: 45 rural hospitals losing critical access status, must reapply.]
In total, CMS received nearly $235 million to fund state grants for Medicaid.
The National Institutes of Health also received a $150 million boost to fund research into Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases.
Below is the full budget proposal. Funding info for the Department of Health and Human Services begins on page 834:
