Obama Medicare Cuts Target Providers, Then Beneficiaries For Savings

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Obama Medicare Cuts Target Providers, Then Beneficiaries For Savings
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/19/president-obama-targets-p_n_969991.html

WASHINGTON -- President Obama wants to extract $320 billion in savings from the health care system in his push to trim the deficit, starting with cutting payments to Medicare and Medicaid providers and ending with making beneficiaries pay more.

The biggest savings -- $135 billion over 10 years -- would come from letting Medicare pay for drugs at the same rates as Medicaid, which enjoys much greater rebates on generic and brand-name drugs.

The next largest source of savings -- $42 billion -- would come from nursing homes, rehab centers and long-term care facilities, which the administration thinks can be encouraged to be much more efficient in providing care right after people get out of hospitals.

Among the hikes under consideration are:

Increasing the deductible for doctors' services (part B of Medicare) by $25 in 2017, 2019 and 2021,
Requiring $100 co-payments for home health care visits,
Charging an extra 15 percent premium on people who have especially generous Medi-gap plans,
Hiking the premiums by 15 percent for Medicare recipients who earn from $85,000 to about $210,000, to raise about $20 billion.

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