Senate Appropriators Look To End ACA Funds, Block Discretionary Spending For State Exchanges

The $154.7 billion draft fiscal 2016 Senate HHS Appropriations bill, approved Tuesday (June 23) for a full committee markup, eliminates Affordable Care Act funding while also specifying that CMS may not use HHS discretionary funding for state-based exchanges' operational costs. Senators on the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies subcommittee decided to send the bill on but disagreed on whether the legislation adequately supports American families. "The bill cuts CMS program management funding by 28 percent...