Sep 2 2011
Repealing SGR will end the series of "doc fix" legislative patches. Also: KHN's Mary Agnes Carey discusses likely consensus builders on the debt panel.
Politico Pro: Cardin: Super Committee Should Fix SGR
Sen. Ben Cardin said Wednesday he is optimistic that the super committee will fix the Sustainable Growth Rate formula. "We have to start with a realistic budget baseline," the Maryland Democrat told about 500 National Institutes of Health employees at a town hall meeting on the agency's main campus in Bethesda, Md. Repealing the SGR is estimated to cost about $350 billion over the next decade, but wouldn't have to be offset to meet the super committee's goal of $1.2 trillion if the Bowles-Simpson baseline is used, Cardin said (Norman, 8/31).
Kaiser Health News: Staff writer Mary Agnes Carey talks with Jackie Judd about the staffing and makeup of the deficit panel and what to expect in the coming months. The "super committee" may take a closer look at curbing Medicare costs by reforming Medigap plans and provider payments (8/31). Read the transcript.
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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