8 Burning Questions For Graham-Cassidy Hearing

The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson (GCHJ) bill on Monday. Over the last week, it has been Groundhog Day again in the health care debate as some ACA supporting groups pump out misleading or false reports on the impact of the current GCHJ bill. While there is plenty to debate, criticize and ask questions about in the bill, the media is failing in their efforts to ask basic questions about many of the claims being made. Here are some suggestions for Senators to get to the heart of some of those claims:

1. Some ACA supporting groups (like CBPP) have claimed that the GCHJ block grants “create a funding cliff that Congress likely couldn’t afford to fill.” If this is the case, how will Congress afford the current (status quo) projected level of spending in 2026 if it will be even higher than under GCHJ?
2. Does the GCHJ bill spend more dollars in 2026 than it does today on Medicaid, subsidies and reinsurance? If more, how is this a cut? It sounds like slowing the rate of growth, right?