The House has passed the House Republican fiscal year 2015 budget introduced earlier this month by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
The House Budget Committee, on which Mr. Ryan serves as chairman, approved the budget last week. It includes $5.1 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade. Approximately $2.9 trillion of those cuts involve healthcare. It would also repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. "The healthcare law has been a costly mistake, so this plan calls for a full replacement," Mr. Ryan wrote in the budget blueprint.
The proposal would also make significant changes to Medicare, reducing program spending by $129 billion over the next 10 years. Starting in 2012, it would convert Medicare to a premium support program, under which beneficiaries would receive funds from the government with which they could purchase either traditional Medicare coverage or private health plans.
Additionally, the proposal would expand means-testing for high-income seniors enrolled in Medicare Parts B and D and reform medical liability insurance by advancing "commonsense curbs on abusive and frivolous lawsuits." Furthermore, the budget creates a budget-neutral reserve fund for a long-term solution to Medicare's sustainable growth rate formula. Finally, it would give states more flexibility in how they use federal Medicaid funds and would eliminate federal program requirements and enrollment criteria.
The budget isn't expected to go anywhere in the Senate, according to a report from The New York Times.
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