A report by CMS's Office of the Actuary details more than $500 billion in savings/cuts found in the House health reform bill, which passed the House on Nov. 7. The Washington Post summarizes the actuary's findings in an article with the headline "Report: Bill would reduce senior care" and subhead "Medicare cuts approved by House may affect access to providers."
Here's a breakdown of two major components of the House spending plan (note that these dollar figures are savings over 10 years):
- Reduce Part A and Part B market basket payment updates and adjust them for productivity improvements ($282 billion)
- Reduce Medicare Advantage payment benchmarks and extend the authority to adjust for coding intensity ($201 billion)
The nonpartisan actuary says the "market basket payment reduction" might not work and savings may never be fully realized. "[P]roviders for whom Medicare constitutes a substantive portion of their business could find it difficult to remain profitable and might end their participation in the program (possibly jeopardizing access to care for beneficiaries)," the report continues. You imagine a scenario where physician and hospital groups lobby hard to avoid huge cuts in order to preserve patient access to their doctors, can't you?
You'd also see a drastic reduction in the number of patients with Medicare Advantage (MA) plans coming through your front door after reductions. The actuary estimates there would be 4.7 million patients with MA plans in 2014, down 64% from projections 13.2 million under current law.