Obama's deficit plan focuses on cutting health programs but not benefits; experts wonder how patients will fare

Though drug companies, hospitals, nursing homes and state health programs would take the biggest hit in the president's proposal, experts say protecting patients will not be simple.

The New York Times: In Cuts To Health Programs, Experts See Difficult Task In Protecting Patients
President Obama and some members of Congress assert that, in cutting Medicare and Medicaid, they can whack health care providers while protecting beneficiaries. But experts say it is not so simple (Pear, 9/20).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Harder Squeeze On Costs, But No Radical Changes to Medicare And Medicaid In Obama's Debt Plan
When it comes to health care savings, President Barack Obama's deficit plan borrows a familiar strategy from corporate America's playbook: cut costs or shift them to others. Drug companies, hospitals, nursing homes and state health care programs assessed the damage Tuesday from the president's latest deficit-reduction proposal to Congress. While Medicare and Medicaid would be spared radical re-engineering, the plan spreads plenty of pain. Future retirees would be on the hook for a greater share of their Medicare costs (9/20).

Meanwhile, in business news related to the announcement of the Obama deficit plan -

MarketWatch: HealthSouth Hammered By Medicare Worries
Shares of HealthSouth Corp. got slammed Tuesday after the Obama administration targeted rehabilitation hospitals in its recent proposal to address the nation's deficit problems. The shares fell more than 15 percent at one point, a day after the hospital operator lost 14 percent as concerns started to mount that President Barack Obama's $3 trillion deficit reduction plan included $7 billion in cuts at facilities like those of Birmingham, Ala.-based HealthSouth. At the close, however, the company stemmed some of those losses and was down more than 8 percent to $16.50 (Britt, 9/20).