President Obama’s budget plan for fiscal year 2010, which he plans to release today, would trim $316 billion over 10 years from Medicare.
Some of the reductions would come from scaling back payments to private insurance plans that serve older Americans. Other proposals include charging upper-income beneficiaries a higher premium for Medicare’s prescription drug coverage. In total, the budget seeks $634 billion over 10 years for healthcare reform.
“We will root out the waste, fraud and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn’t make our seniors any healthier,” Obama said in his first address to Congress Tuesday night.
Delivering the official Republican rebuttal Tuesday night, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) said the Democrat’s approach will only “grow the government, increase our taxes down the line and saddle future generations with debt.” The New York Times also accused the president of being “vague about how he intends to make health care more affordable and accessible.”
In related news, the first wave of Medicaid money flooded state coffers this week. The $15 billion in funding represents the first disbursement of the $87 billion increase in the federal medical assistance percentage, which will be distributed over the next two years.
