As GAO denounces their $8.35 billion Medicare Advantage demo, CMS announces that their frugality will save $208 billion by 2020.
CMS' latest savings report details, to some extent, where the savings are coming from, based on the calculations of the CMS Office of the Actuary.
For example, certain mandates in the Affordable Care Act are listed with the amounts they're supposed to reduce CMS spending (though some, like the allegedly $10-billion-saving Partnership for Patients, get footnotes like "amount shown represents the reduction in Medicare expenditures that could be achieved if the CMS goals for reducing readmissions and hospital-acquired conditions are met").
Some of the numbers are based on known savings, as with the Part D "doughnut hole" closing. Some of the numbers, though, are new to us, such as the claim that "reducing excessive Medicare payments to private insurers who operate in Medicare Advantage" will claw back $68 billion. (After the GAO report on the $8.35 billion price tag on the Medicare Advantage demo, this one in particular doesn't sound so impressive.)
CMS says there's more where the $200 billion came from, too: for example, the demos and initiatives of the CMS Innovation Center, ACOs, Pay-for-Performance, etc. will assure that "care is more coordinated, resources are used more efficiently, and the health care system works better for patients, families, and providers." Result: Savings.
On top of savings, CMS brags on improved benefits ("last year alone, 32.5 million Medicare beneficiaries used at least one preventive benefit without a deductible or co-pay").
It all sounds great. Here's hoping a reasonable amount of it actually comes through.