Using Medicare Savings to Pay for New Health Care Spending - Staff Analysis

Jul 30 2009

Using savings from Medicare to pay for new “non-Medicare” spending is akin to paying one’s bills with checks from an already overdrawn account. Members of Congress and the Administration would be wise to avoid using this type of budget gimmick to pay for new health care spending. Not only does this approach hide the cost of the new spending, but it imperils the future ability of Congress and the Administration to address the future financial problems facing Medicare. Eliminating the availability of $2 trillion in present value from future efforts to correct Medicare’s imbalance will make the task even more daunting.

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  • Using Medicare Savings to Pay for New Health Care Spending - Staff Analysis

    Using savings from Medicare to pay for new “non-Medicare” spending is akin to paying one’s bills with checks from an already overdrawn account. Members of Congress and the Administration would be wise to avoid using this type of budget gimmick to pay for new health care spending. Not only does this approach hide the cost of the new spending, but it imperils the future ability of Congress and the Administration to address the future financial problems facing Medicare. Eliminating the availability of $2 trillion in present value from future efforts to correct Medicare’s imbalance will make the task even more daunting. ApplyingMedicareCutstoHITrustFundPreliminaryAnalysis07292009.pdf (368.5 KBs)