'Super Committee' hears pleas to protect health program enrollees and providers

Some say the recession's toll could be even greater if Medicaid funding for mental health services hits the deficit panel's chopping block. Meanwhile, provider groups continue to make their cases to the committee.

The Fiscal Times: The Recession's 'Silent Mental Health Epidemic'
As bleak as things are for many of the unemployed, it could get even worse if Medicaid funding of mental health services is put  on the chopping block this fall, as a congressional "Super Committee" hunts for spending cuts to help reduce the federal budget deficit. Medicaid is the most important source of funding of public mental health services for young people and adults, accounting for nearly half of state mental health budgets, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (Hirsch and Pianin, 9/23).

CQ HealthBeat: Health Groups Make Their Case To The Super Committee
When it comes to Medicare and Medicaid, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is getting plenty of advice, warnings and pleas to avoid harming enrollees and providers. On Thursday, radiologists said that the so-called super committee should turn aside an Obama administration proposal to reduce payments to the imaging industry by $1.3 billion over five years. The American College of Radiology said that those cuts would come on top of $5 billion in reimbursement reductions during the past five years (Norman, 9/22).

Los Angeles Times: Obama Alienating Some Democratic Moderates With Fiscal Stance
Staking out fiscally conservative positions, Democrats over the last several elections have managed to steal voters from Republicans in some unlikely places, such as Montana and Virginia. But many moderates lost their seats in 2010, and those who remain are nervous about the campaign and aren't eager to embrace the president's call for tax hikes, even increases aimed at the wealthiest Americans (Hennessey, 9/22).