Bush's Budget Cuts
Bush’s budget proposal likely won’t be accepted as it currently stands, but the hospital lobbyists are fearful of the current trend as they would be up for a potential $70 billion cut to Medicare and Medicaid spending over the next five years.
Everyone is waiting for more specifics on where the cuts would actually be made and who really will be affected.
It is anticipated that hospitals may shoulder the brunt of Medicare cuts in the effort to balance the budget by 2012. Hospitals and physicians are far and away the biggest recipients of Medicare dollars and thus likely the easiest areas to cut.
Medicare spending has increased 9.3% to $342 billion in calendar 2005 with hospitals accounting for the largest share—$180.3 billion. The government reportedly financed 40%, or $736.3 billion, of all the nation’s health services and supplies.
The only real way to put the Medicare program on a financially stable and secure path will require a combination of reducing services, increased cost sharing by patients, possibly increasing the age of eligibility, improving efficiencies and somehow bringing in more revenue to the system
The PAC’s are all gearing up for the fight to make sure any cuts for their constituents are the least possible. One example is home oxygen that looks to be cut from 36 month rental ability to 13 months meaning patients would likely have to pay for this after that period of time.
As of now, the Medicare Advantage and the prescription drug program are not slated for cuts. In the Medicare Advantage program, beneficiaries enroll in private plans rather than traditional fee-for-service programs but those plans are paid, on average, about 12% more than what would normally be spent per beneficiary if they were enrolled in a traditional plan.
Sounds as if their lobbyists are working harder for them and these huge insurance companies continue to rake it in.
The budget proposal is not expected to include the so-called “physician fix,” a temporary reprieve on payment cuts that expires at the end of 2007. Once again, physicians will likely be easy targets as our Medical Associations and lobbying groups seem impotent to attain any real change.
Everyone is waiting for more specifics on where the cuts would actually be made and who really will be affected.
It is anticipated that hospitals may shoulder the brunt of Medicare cuts in the effort to balance the budget by 2012. Hospitals and physicians are far and away the biggest recipients of Medicare dollars and thus likely the easiest areas to cut.
Medicare spending has increased 9.3% to $342 billion in calendar 2005 with hospitals accounting for the largest share—$180.3 billion. The government reportedly financed 40%, or $736.3 billion, of all the nation’s health services and supplies.
The only real way to put the Medicare program on a financially stable and secure path will require a combination of reducing services, increased cost sharing by patients, possibly increasing the age of eligibility, improving efficiencies and somehow bringing in more revenue to the system
The PAC’s are all gearing up for the fight to make sure any cuts for their constituents are the least possible. One example is home oxygen that looks to be cut from 36 month rental ability to 13 months meaning patients would likely have to pay for this after that period of time.
As of now, the Medicare Advantage and the prescription drug program are not slated for cuts. In the Medicare Advantage program, beneficiaries enroll in private plans rather than traditional fee-for-service programs but those plans are paid, on average, about 12% more than what would normally be spent per beneficiary if they were enrolled in a traditional plan.
Sounds as if their lobbyists are working harder for them and these huge insurance companies continue to rake it in.
The budget proposal is not expected to include the so-called “physician fix,” a temporary reprieve on payment cuts that expires at the end of 2007. Once again, physicians will likely be easy targets as our Medical Associations and lobbying groups seem impotent to attain any real change.
Labels: budget, healthcare
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