Legislators Try to Stop Cuts in Medicare Spending

A recent Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact evaluating the Baucus Plan noted that:

Cuts in Medicare and other health programs ratchet up quickly in the CBO score, reaching $93 billion in 2019 alone and totaling $404 billion between FY 2010 and 2019. Assuming those Medicare cuts continue growing at the same rate after 2019, they could reach a total of $1.8 trillion over the next ten-year period, 2020-2029.

Well some in Washington are trying hard to keep those Medicare cuts from happening. Senate Democrats have introduced a bill that would give doctors a “$247 billion increase in Medicare fees over a decade” and “avert a 21 percent reduction in Medicare fees paid to doctors that is scheduled to take effect in January as well as additional cuts in future years.”

The sneaky part:

By creating a two-bill approach, Democrats intend to claim the more comprehensive health care measure meets President Barack Obama’s conditions – that it will neither add to deficits nor exceed $900 billion in costs over 10 years.