New Bush Budget Calls for More Medicare, Medicaid Cuts - from Suddenly Senior

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- "Frank Kaiser" <frankSaturday, March 04, 2006 9:14 AM[RxNews] New Bush Budget Calls for More Medicare, Medicaid Cuts -from Suddenly Senior> New Bush Budget Calls for More Medicare, Medicaid Cuts>> ElderLaw>> President Bush's proposed $2.77 trillion budget for fiscal year 2007 callsfor substantial cuts in domestic programs, especially Medicare, whileincreasing spending on the military and domestic security and making his taxcuts permanent.>> Coming on the heels of nearly $40 billion in cuts to Medicaid andMedicare, the proposals face tough prospects on Capitol Hill and are puttingmany Republican lawmakers in a tight spot during an election year.>> "It strikes me that [the White House] isn't thinking about the election atall," one Republican Senate aide told the newspaper Roll Call. "I can'tquite figure out why they are going to make us jump off this cliff.">> The biggest spending reductions are to the Medicare program, which wouldbe cut by $36 billion over five years and $105 billion over 10 years.Hospitals, nursing homes and home health care agencies would receivebillions of dollars less in reimbursements. The budget would also increaseMedicare premiums for seniors with higher incomes and institute arequirement that oxygen equipment be purchased rather than leased.>> The president is also calling for another round of cuts to the Medicaidprogram, including a $12 billion reduction in Medicaid payments to statesthat Congress rejected last year.>> Meanwhile, the budget offers $60 billion in tax breaks to encourage theuse of health savings accounts (HSAs), which theoretically prompt patientsto become more prudent consumers of health care services because they areplaying with their own money. But these accounts are mainly available tomore well-off consumers who have the resources to establish them in thefirst place. Some observers view Bush's HSA proposals as the health careequivalent of last year's doomed effort to promote private Social Securityaccounts.>> (The budget includes a little-noticed provision for a new Social Securityprivatization plan that would divert more than $700 billion of SocialSecurity tax revenues to pay for private accounts over seven years.)>> The Bush budget would reduce or eliminate 141 other programs. It would:>> terminate a program that provides poor seniors with nutritious foods>> end the $255 Social Security death benefit to the surviving spouse of abeneficiary>> eliminate Social Security survivor payments for 16- and 17-year-old highschool dropouts>> scale back programs that help the poor insulate their homes>> impose higher drug copayments and fees on veterans with higher incomes orless-severe disabilities>> cut the National Cancer Institute's budget by $40 million>> cut the budget of the Centers for Disease Control by $179 million>> At the same time, the budget proposal calls for the President's tax cutsto become permanent, a move that would reduce projected federal revenues by$1.35 trillion over the next decade.>> The budget got a largely cool reception on Capitol Hill, even amongmembers of the President's own party.>> Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) called the proposed cuts in education and health"scandalous," while Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) said she was "disappointed andeven surprised" by the extent of the suggested cuts to Medicaid andMedicare.>> Rep. John Spratt (D-SC), the ranking Democrat on the House BudgetCommittee, said, "A budget is a statement of moral choices, and this budgetmakes the wrong choices.">> © 2006 ElderLawNet, Inc.>> **************************> Universal Drugstore is proud to sponsor the Suddenly Senior Rx Liste-mails and the important information these emails provide. For moreinformation on our sponsor please visit their websitehttp://www.UniversalDrugstore.com/.> ***************************> ----------------------------> Frank Kaiser frank http://www.suddenlysenior.com> Since 1999, America's most trusted senior citizen Website. Read by over1.73 million monthly.> ----------------------------