Republicans won’t need to lift a finger to make a dent in at least three Obamacare programs.◼ PLUS: Health law impacts primary care doc shortage - AP
The trio of primary care programs, which serves poor Americans, is due to expire at the end of this fiscal year unless Congress finds more funding. But keeping the programs alive could be a tough sell amid a political climate still sour on President Obama’s signature health law.
Obamacare supporters have labeled it the “primary care cliff,” and say it would be a disaster for the health of 22 million poor Americans if the country goes over the Sept. 30 deadline without finding more money for the programs....
any vote to prop up part of the unpopular law could be dangerous for Republicans, most of whom are still vowing a full or partial Obamacare repeal rather than looking for ways to maintain it.
The Affordable Care Act created the Community Health Center Fund and set aside $11 billion from 2011 to 2015 to support the Federal Health Centers program and the National Health Service Corps, the program that offers scholarships and school loan assistance.
The fund accounted for 60 percent of health centers’ spending in fiscal year 2014 and provided all of the National Health Service Corps’ money for the last few years.
Part of the problem is that the expiring fund had “partially replaced” the primary care programs’ annual discretionary funding, according to congressional researchers....
A survey this year by The Physicians Foundation found that 81 percent of doctors describe themselves as either over-extended or at full capacity, and 44 percent said they planned to cut back on the number of patients they see, retire, work part-time or close their practice to new patients.◼ CIVIL WAR ERUPTING AMONG DEMOCRATS OVER OBAMACARE - Wynton Hall/Breitbart
◼ Half of the Senators who voted for Obamacare won't be part of new Senate - Philip Klein/Washington Examiner @philipklein
