A majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives are calling on the Obama administration to halt Medicare pilot programs aimed at making the enormous federal health care program for the elderly more cost-effective.

A letter signed by 179 GOP lawmakers says the administration has overstepped its authority in authorizing a number of programs that hospitals throughout the country have been obligated to partake in.

Many of these initiatives, they claim, have been executed without Congressional approval. While they concede the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has the authority, through the Affordable Care Act, to "test innovative models on a limited basis," they allege the administration is using the programs to "substantially alter both the delivery and reimbursement of care."