Trending News Today: Lawmakers May Change AHCA to Improve Care for Seniors

Yesterday, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he supports changing the American Health Care Act (AHCA) to improve care for elderly Americans. This compromise was an attempt to gain more support from moderate GOP lawmakers, who felt the replacement plan did not make enough changes, according to The New York Times. While Republican leaders believe that the bill will pass, they are considering making alterations that ease the concerns of some legislators.

On Friday, President Donald Trump and conservative lawmakers agreed that including a work requirement on non-disabled beneficiaries and limiting federal funding on Medicaid could further improve the program, The New York Times reported. Currently, there is no work requirement under the Affordable Care Act, as former President Barack Obama did not believe that the stipulation was consistent with Medicaid’s goals. While conservatives have supported the measure, others believe that it would harm patients and hospitals throughout the country.

Under the proposed federal budget, the National Institutes of Health would lose approximately $5.8 billion in federal funding, which is 20% of their budget. Researchers have said that these proposed cuts would be devastating to their work on cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Zika virus, and other conditions, according to Kaiser Health News. Research and academic institutions, such as Johns Hopkins University and the University of California, San Francisco, stand to lose millions in funding, which may set back basic scientific studies.