The co-chairs of National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform recommended about 20 major cuts that would affect hospitals and physicians, including accelerating the phase-in of the disproportionate share hospital cuts, putting hospitals immediately under the Independent Payment Advisory Board and reducing teaching payments for hospitals.
However, it seems unlikely the recommendations will be approved by 14 of the panel’s 18 members to become part of the commission’s final report, which is expected by Dec. 1.
Democrats have already cut Medicare by $455 billion, including $155 billion from hospitals, and Republicans have heavily criticized them for doing so. Also, “Congress and the country may not have the stomach so soon for another discussion of how to reform the healthcare system,” the Journal said.
The AMA praised the co-chairs’ proposal to enact federal tort reform but criticized their plan to replace the payment formula behind the Medicare physician fee cuts with another formula that would produce milder cuts. A White House spokesman declined to comment on the chairmen’s report.
Read the Wall Street Journal report on Medicare cuts.
Read more coverage of the deficit panel:
– Federal Debt Panel Proposes 20 Major Cuts for Hospitals, Physicians
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