Commissions to examine paring costs from Medicaid, Medicare

Medicaid payments are coming under review by a new commission, American Medical News reports. "MACPAC was created by a provision of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, signed by President Obama in February 2009. The act instructs the panel to examine the effect of Medicaid pay and other factors on the access and quality of care received by Medicaid and CHIP enrollees." Kaiser Family Foundation executive Diane Rowland will chair the panel. The panel has not yet gained federal funding (Trapp, 1/25).

Another federal panel could be created to review overall federal spending, and a similar, unofficial taskforce has begun to coalesce that includes prominent former elected officials, The New York Times reports. The unofficial groups' "goal is to, by December, give Congress and Mr. Obama a multiyear plan to raise tax revenues and pare spending, especially for the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which are the biggest factors driving the projections of future high deficits, [former Senate Budget Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M.,] and [Clinton budget director Alice Rivlin] said in a joint interview" (Calmes, 1/24).