Obama to slash health payments
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 15, 2009 00:00
WASHINTON - U.S. President Barack Obama is seeking to help pay for his health care plan by sharply reducing the government's medical spending, mainly by trimming payments to prescription drugmakers, hospitals and other care providers.
The president and his aides said specific ways for achieving the cuts will be decided later. The negotiations could trigger fierce political battles between powerful industries trying to protect their profits.
Overhauling the U.S. health care system is one of Obama's biggest ambitions, and lawmakers are working on a variety of plans. A top goal is to reduce costs in the government's largest medical programs, Medicare and Medicaid, which cover millions of elderly and low-income Americans and involve thousands of doctors, hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions.
In his weekly address Saturday, Obama proposed cutting $313 billion from the programs over 10 years. That's in addition to the $635 billion "down payment" in tax increases and spending cuts that he announced earlier.
Together, Obama's plans would provide $948 billion over a decade in savings and/or tax increases to help cover the millions of Americans who lack medical insurance and to slow the rate of soaring health care costs. The status quo is unacceptable, Obama said. "America spends nearly 50 percent more per person on health care than any other country." The newly proposed $313 billion in savings, he said, "will come from commonsense changes."
He would cut $106 billion from payments that help hospitals treat the uninsured because his plan would cover nearly every American. Payments for Medicare prescription drugs would fall by $75 billion over 10 years. And slowing projected increases in Medicare payments to hospitals and other providers - but not doctors - would save $110 billion over 10 years, Obama said. His budget director, Peter Orszag, said the cuts are justified because health care is becoming more efficient.
Overhauling the U.S. health care system is one of Obama's biggest ambitions, and lawmakers are working on a variety of plans. A top goal is to reduce costs in the government's largest medical programs, Medicare and Medicaid, which cover millions of elderly and low-income Americans and involve thousands of doctors, hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions.
In his weekly address Saturday, Obama proposed cutting $313 billion from the programs over 10 years. That's in addition to the $635 billion "down payment" in tax increases and spending cuts that he announced earlier.
Together, Obama's plans would provide $948 billion over a decade in savings and/or tax increases to help cover the millions of Americans who lack medical insurance and to slow the rate of soaring health care costs. The status quo is unacceptable, Obama said. "America spends nearly 50 percent more per person on health care than any other country." The newly proposed $313 billion in savings, he said, "will come from commonsense changes."
He would cut $106 billion from payments that help hospitals treat the uninsured because his plan would cover nearly every American. Payments for Medicare prescription drugs would fall by $75 billion over 10 years. And slowing projected increases in Medicare payments to hospitals and other providers - but not doctors - would save $110 billion over 10 years, Obama said. His budget director, Peter Orszag, said the cuts are justified because health care is becoming more efficient.