GOP Health Care Bill: Alaska Would Get $2B In Federal Money

WASHINGTON, DC — A provision in the most recent version of the Senate Republicans' health care bill appears to benefit only the state of Alaska to the tune of $2 billion in federal money.

Among the Republican holdouts needed to pass the bill is one of Alaska's senators, Lisa Murkowski. Alaska has unusually high medical costs because much of the state is remote, and it relies heavily on Medicaid, which the bill would cut.

Democrats resorted to a similar tactic when they were pushing President Barack Obama's 2010 health care bill through the Senate. At one point it set aside extra money for Nebraska to win support from one of its senators, Ben Nelson. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

That arrangement became known as the Cornhusker Kickback, and it was widely criticized and eventually removed.

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press

Photos credit: J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press