11.15.2023 | Forbes
By Steve Brozak
For the last few weeks, Americans have patiently waited for the new Speaker of the House to explain his overall budget strategy. However, his linguistic evasiveness has spoken volumes, and especially regarding healthcare expenditures. His focus on avoiding a U.S. Government shutdown ensured that healthcare issues would remain unaddressed, at least for the remainder of 2023. Now that a continuing resolutions (CR) is set and USG funding will continue until at least Jan. 19 that inattention will end. And in 2024 it is likely that Speaker Johnson will face major healthcare challenges that will rival even the pressure of a government shutdown.
Historically, government shutdowns have been avoided by the passage of omnibus CRs. In this case Johnson’s “laddered” continuing resolution will fund expenses such as the Food and Drug Administration, the US military, Transportation, Housing, Urban Development, Agriculture and Energy programs through January 19th with a February 2nd end for everything else. With this type of legislative “innovation” we are likely to see unusual lawmaking challenges and the following five healthcare issues are guaranteed to complicate the matter even more.
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