Seeking a long-term solution to the nation's growing deficit, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) announced he is introducing a plan based on the 2010 deficit reduction proposal known as the Simpson-Bowles Plan.
Chaired by former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY), the 2010 plan put forth by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform advocated for spending cuts and reforms to the tax code. It did not get supermajority approval when vote on by the 18-member commission in 2010.
Simpson-Bowles makes several specific healthcare proposal recommendations, including:
Sen. Conrad is urging his colleagues to pass a blueprint for long-term deficit reduction based on Simpson-Bowles that looks beyond the short-fix Budget Control Act passed last summer, which is law only through 2013.
Commenting on his new plan, Sen. Conrad said in a statement, "It brings the deficit down in a responsible, fair and balanced way."
Several weeks ago, the House of Representatives struck down a version of the Simpson-Bowles plan in a vote: 382 members voted against the plan and only 38 voted in favor.
Sen. Conrad said in an interview with The Washington Post that he does not expect a vote before the November elections, but wants to start a conversation for later negotiations.
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Chaired by former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY), the 2010 plan put forth by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform advocated for spending cuts and reforms to the tax code. It did not get supermajority approval when vote on by the 18-member commission in 2010.
Simpson-Bowles makes several specific healthcare proposal recommendations, including:
- Granting all hospitals authority of the Independent Payment Advisory Board created by the PPACA.
- Ramping up the phase-in of the Medicare Advantage and home health cuts enacted by the PPACA.
- Banning states' use of provider taxes under Medicaid.
- Slashing Medicare bad debt payments.
- Reducing Medicare payments for graduate medical education.
Sen. Conrad is urging his colleagues to pass a blueprint for long-term deficit reduction based on Simpson-Bowles that looks beyond the short-fix Budget Control Act passed last summer, which is law only through 2013.
Commenting on his new plan, Sen. Conrad said in a statement, "It brings the deficit down in a responsible, fair and balanced way."
Several weeks ago, the House of Representatives struck down a version of the Simpson-Bowles plan in a vote: 382 members voted against the plan and only 38 voted in favor.
Sen. Conrad said in an interview with The Washington Post that he does not expect a vote before the November elections, but wants to start a conversation for later negotiations.
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