By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    Physicians
    Why Recruiting Physicians is More Challenging than Hiring Other Professionals
    December 17, 2024
    Telemedicine Apps
    Why Custom Telemedicine Apps Outperform Off‑the‑Shelf Solutions
    July 20, 2025
    improving patient experience
    6 Ways to Improve Patient Satisfaction Within Hospitals
    December 1, 2021
    Latest News
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
    Why Custom Telemedicine Apps Outperform Off‑the‑Shelf Solutions
    July 20, 2025
    How Probate Planning Shapes the Future of Your Estate and Family Care
    July 17, 2025
    Beyond Nutrition: Everyday Foods That Support Whole-Body Health
    June 15, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Image
    Surge Exercises: Bombings and Blast Injuries
    April 21, 2013
    This Week in Washington
    March 27, 2012
    Are You Providing Value to Patients?
    June 12, 2013
    Latest News
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
    How Health Choices and Legal Actions Intersect After an Injury
    July 17, 2025
    How communities and healthcare providers can address slip and fall injuries with legal awareness
    July 17, 2025
    Let Your Lawyer Handle the Work Before You Pay Medical Costs
    July 6, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: How Obama Would Cut Medicare and Medicaid
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Health Reform > How Obama Would Cut Medicare and Medicaid
Health Reform

How Obama Would Cut Medicare and Medicaid

GlennLaffel
GlennLaffel
Share
4 Min Read
SHARE

Yesterday, President Obama finally entered the debate about the national debt with a proposal to reduce US government borrowing by $4 trillion over the next 12 years. The proposal called for higher taxes on rich folks as well as deep cuts in military and domestic spending, including Medicare and Medicaid.

But unlike an earlier proposal by Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), the Big O’s plan did not include making fundamental changes to the 2 US health entitlement programs, nor did it scale back the primary objective of the health reform law passed last year (the Affordable Care Act, or ACA), which is to provide health-care coverage for millions of uninsured Americans.

“We don’t have to choose between a future of spiraling debt and one where we forfeit investments in our people and our country,” he said. “To meet our fiscal challenge, we will need to make reforms. We will all need to make sacrifices. But we do not have to sacrifice the America we believe in. And as long as I’m president, we won’t.”

Ryan’s plan calls for Medicare beneficiaries to select from a pool of private insurance programs, and for the feds to pay a fixed amount of premium funds to the insurer chosen by each beneficiary. Additional costs would have to be borne by the beneficiary.

More Read

Community Health Centers and Healthcare Systems Partnering for Healthcare of the Future
Health Business TV: Obamacare Premiums (VIDEO)
Medicare Cuts: Hospitals Don’t Make It Up on Volume
Medicare Has Lower Than Expected Premium Increases
Top 5 Strategic Planning Challenges for CIOs

The president’s plan calls for $480 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid by 2023, and a beefed-up role for the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), the new independent panel formed by the ACA as a watchdog against health cost escalations.

Responding to the Ryan proposal, Obama said, “Let me be absolutely clear: I will preserve these healthcare programs as a promise we make to each other in this society. I will not allow Medicare to become a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry, with a shrinking benefit to pay for rising costs.”

The cornerstone of Obama’s proposal was a provision that empowers the IPAB to make cost reduction recommendations to Congress in the event that Medicare costs grow faster than the per-capita Gross Domestic Product plus 1%. The provision requires that these recommendations must not impede beneficiaries’ access to appropriate services. Now, Congress wouldn’t have to follow the advice from the IPAB. It could institute its own solution so long as it achieved the target reductions. In the event that Congress failed to act however, the Secretary of HHS would be required to develop and implement a plan that hit the target.

A second part of Obama’s proposal called for creating a single matching rate for all Medicaid program spending that “rewards states for efficiency and automatically increases if a recession forces enrollment and state costs to rise.”

A third part, sure to enrage Big Pharma and Biotech, would “limit excessive payments for prescription drugs by leveraging Medicare’s purchasing power,” according to White House officials. The plan also calls for making generic biological available more quickly and banning “pay for delay” agreements between Big Pharma and generics manufacturers that delay the introduction of generic drugs and biologicals.

And of course, there was the obligatory hand-wave in the direction of reducing fraud and abuse by Medicare and Medicaid providers…an initiative that has been underway for almost as long as the entitlement programs have been operational.

Many of these plans had been presented last year by the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction commission that had been appointed by Obama more than a year ago.

TAGGED:health care reformMedicaidMedicare
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

technology in medical research
The Tools Helping Medical Researchers See the Full Picture
News Technology
August 3, 2025
5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
Health
July 31, 2025
holistic dental
Holistic Dentist Services Are Natural and Safe
Dental health Specialties
July 28, 2025
botox certification
Help Improve People’s Skin Health Via Botox Certification
Skin Specialties
July 22, 2025

You Might also Like

HCAHPS and mobilization
eHealthHealth ReformMedical InnovationsMobile HealthTechnologyWellness

4 Approaches to Improving HCAHPS Scores Through Mobilization

October 27, 2014
BusinessHealth ReformHospital AdministrationPolicy & LawPublic Health

Expansion of Primary Care and Relationships Leads to Fewer ER Visits

January 6, 2014
obamacare
BusinessHealth ReformHospital AdministrationMedical EducationNewsPolicy & LawPublic Health

What We Still Don’t Know About ObamaCare

October 10, 2013

How to Design a Health Insurance Exchange

April 18, 2011
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?