The Senate Finance Committee has passed legislation designed to cut $10 billion over five years from Medicaid and Medicare programs. The vote was along party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats against the cuts.
The changes, which now have to be considered by the Senate Budget Committee and then the full Senate before passing on to the House, would reduce reimbursement to physicians for drugs dispensed ($6.4 billion), increase funding to incent health plans to participate in medicare programs (no $ figures provided) , and require pharmaceutical manufacturers to increase the rebates paid to the federal government by $1.4 billion.
Additional funds would be set aside for Katrina victims’ health care.
The House is considering a package that would cut $11 billion from Medicaid alone, even after adding $2.5 billion for Medicaid services for Katrina victims.
What will result is likely to be some cuts in Medicaid and Medicare, as well as the potential for increased costs for wealthier Medicare eligibles.
The last would have seemed highly unlikely jsut a few months ago, but the Republican base is outraged by the lack of financial discipline it perceives on the part of Republican leadership. The Washington Times notes:” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), one of the group’s leaders, said, “I am totally confident that the Republican base is upset and angry about the fiscal indiscipline that we practiced here in the Congress and the mortgaging of our children and our grandchildren’s futures”
What does this mean for you?
Tweaking around the edges of Medicare and Medicaid will do nothing to address the underlying cost drivers, so the problem persists…
Oct
26
