Republicans call for investigation of health law's costs

Politico: "House Republicans on Wednesday demanded an investigation into whether the health care overhaul plan would increase national health spending, following a recent report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that showed cost increases, at least in the first decade." The Medicare actuary's report showed a one percent increase in health spending over 10 years, which Republicans said cut against Democrats' pledge that the health overhaul would "bend the cost curve down." Republicans said their probe was meant to address substantive issues raised in the report, not whether it was delayed for political reasons as conservative critics alleged. The actuary's office, which is politically independent, has denied assertions of delay (Haberkorn, 4/28).

Modern Healthcare: "In a letter sent to Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), GOP leaders said they want Richard Foster, the chief actuary at the CMS, to testify about the future effects of the reform law. 'Because the healthcare legislation affects all Americans and a large portion of the American economy, we believe that vigorous and continued oversight is necessary,' according to the letter" (DoBias, 4/28).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.