In addition to tax hikes on various health care related activities, Sen. Baucus’s health care reform bill is largely financed by cuts to existing government health care programs. While the full list is exhaustive, here are the big three categories that are cut that contribute to the $404.1 billion savings that CBO projects over the next 10 years from this bill.
Ensuring Medicare Sustainability: $207.4 billion cut
Medicare Advantage: $114.2 billion cut
Improving Payment Accuracy: $58.4 billion cut
Note: Interactions within Medicare provisions offset the cuts above by about $14.6 billion
In summary, of the $829 billion gross cost of the Baucus bill over the next ten years plus the $81 billion in deficit reduction, here is how Sen. Baucus is paying for his health care plan (and the deficit reduction):
Net Cuts to Medicare = 377.8 (41.5%)
Net Cuts to Other Spending = 26.3 (2.9%)
Excise Tax on “Cadillac” Plans = 201.4 (22.1%)
Annual Fees on Companies within Health Care Sector = 121.2 (13.3%)
Other TaxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities.
/Revenue Increases = 184.8 (20.3%)
(Totals Do Not Add Due to Rounding)
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