Trump opens a new front: GOP weighs health care cuts to pay for Iran war

Pic.: bayalarmmedical.com

Republicans are considering reductions in federal health spending to help pay for a budget bill containing as much as $200 billion to fund the Iran war and immigration enforcement, Axios stresses.

Why it matters: New efforts to rein in health programs are sure to be controversial and open the GOP up to election-year attacks that they're cutting health care to pay for an unpopular war.

Driving the news: Top House Republicans are looking at health care offsets addressing fraud in federal programs, as they did during last year's debate over the budget law that made deep cuts to federal Medicaid spending and imposed first-time work requirements.

"There's other items we're looking at right now, especially in the areas of fraud and waste and abuse that we're working through with our members," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told Axios.

House Budget Committee chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) is reviving an idea that was considered last year to fund Affordable Care Act payments known as cost-sharing reductions.

The Congressional Budget Office previously found the move would lower overall benchmark ACA premiums by 11% but result in 300,000 more uninsured people.

Between the lines: The driving force is the need to pay for the war in Iran and fund ICE, the latter of which triggered the partial government shutdown. Democrats oppose both, leaving Republicans ready to use the party-line process known as reconciliation to get around a Senate filibuster.

Many Republicans want any bill to be fully paid for, which is where potential health care changes come in.

Yes, but: Moderate Republicans are sure to push back against any policies that can be widely seen as cuts in an election year. Even a few defections could sink any effort in the House.

The intrigue: President Trump is also pushing Congress to enact into law his "most favored nation" proposal to link U.S. drug prices to lower prices paid abroad.

A new reconciliation bill could be a vehicle, though GOP congressional leadership remains cool to the idea after declining to include it in last year's bill.

What we're watching: Arrington said he wanted something passed into law in "60 to 90 days," which is a speedy timeline.

While the contours of any health care changes are not fully clear, Democrats are already going on attack.

"Republicans in Congress want to cut Americans' health care to pay for more war in Iran," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote. "Let that sink in."

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