White House budget trims Medicare with cuts focused on insurance company payments, hospitals

Reuters: Factbox: Obama's Election Year Budget To Target Rich
President Barack Obama's budget proposal on February 13 will make an election-year call for economic fairness with higher taxes on wealthy Americans as part of a $3 trillion-plus deficit reduction plan that he first unveiled last September...  [Expect] domestic spending cuts of around $580 billion over 10 years, going by Obama's September deficit plan. Those reductions include $248 billion in savings to Medicare health programs for older Americans, with most of the cuts aimed at payments to insurance companies and hospitals. He also outlined $72 billion in Medicaid health programs for the poor.