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U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, issued the following statement in response to drastic Medicare cuts included in the $2.7 trillion Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 federal budget President Bush submitted to Congress today.
"The budget proposed by President Bush is unsettling in so many ways. Its impact on the availability and affordability of health care in this country will be severe. The president's proposal to expand health savings accounts will completely destabilize the market and leave our most vulnerable citizens worse off.
"Similarly, the president's drastic proposal to slash $36 billion from Medicare payments to hospitals and home health providers over the next five years would severely limit seniors' access to much needed care. The president's Medicare cuts would force some New Jersey seniors to pay more in premiums for their health care.
"The president has claimed these provisions were recommended by a Medicare Payment Advisory Committee, but noticeably absent from the budget is a recommendation from the same Committee that would eliminate Medicare overpayments to HMOs. This is just another instance of the Bush administration targeting individual Americans to achieve savings instead of the insurance industry."
"If the president were truly interested in containing Medicare costs, he would eliminate the $20 billion in overpayments to managed care plans that participate in Medicare, rather than force all of the cuts directly onto our seniors." |
