CBO deficit-reduction options include billions in Medicare, Medicaid cuts

The Hill: CBO Outlines Health Benefit Cuts Worth Hundreds Of Billions
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a list of deficit-cutting options Thursday that includes hundreds of billions in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. The two programs account for 38 percent of mandatory spending — more than Social Security — and face a visit to the chopping block as Americans across the political spectrum clamor for the government to keep its spending under control. In its report, CBO says giving states a block grant (indexed to annual increases in the employment cost index) to cover long-term care services in Medicaid — something conservative state leaders have been clamoring for — would shave $287.4 billion off the deficit over 10 years. The next biggest saver, increasing the basic Medicare premium for doctor's visits to 35 percent, would save $241.2 billion (Pecquet, 3/10).

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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.