The supercommittee is charged with cutting the national deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the next decade, and Dr. Aaron said spending cuts cannot exclusively be a cure-all. Rather, he said tax increases must account for a “sizable fraction” if Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and other governmental healthcare programs are to live up to their 50-year-old commitments.
“Should the various healthcare interest groups prevail on the specific issues that now occupy them without winning sizable revenue increases as part of a deficit-reduction program, it would be rather like securing a nicer cell for a prisoner facing certain execution,” he said in the article.
Related Articles on Healthcare and the U.S. Deficit:
GOP Debt Reduction Committee’s Proposes $1.2T Spending Cuts, Including Medicare
Debt Reduction Committee Receives More Than 175k Recommendations So Far; Gang of Six Plan Reconsidered
Hospitals Want Medicare Eligibility Age Upped From 65 to 67; Critics Call it Self-Serving
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