AHA: ''Medicare cuts to cost 278,000 hospital jobs''

read more from fierce health care....

"Hospitals should prepare themselves for nearly 278,000 job losses over the next decade because of a potential $61.4 billion in Medicare cuts, according to a new report from the American Hospital Association (AHA) and by economic research firm Tripp Umbach."

'U.S. hospitals worried over Medicaid cuts'

from upi........

"An association of U.S. hospitals says it is very concerned by President Barack Obama's proposal to cut Medicaid and Medicare graduate medical education.


The National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems in Washington says the president's proposal would shift heavy cost burdens onto states, limiting their ability to fund Medicaid and potentially hurting the nearly 60 million Americans who rely on Medicaid for their healthcare"..........READ MORE

'Potential Medicare payment cuts alarm doctors, hospitals'

from boston.com.....

"Fourteen years ago, Congress passed a bill cutting Medicare payments to doctors in a move to reduce the federal deficit. But every year since, lawmakers have caved to pressure from doctors and held off the cuts, demonstrating the lobbying power of a profession that is once again in the crosshairs of congressional budget-cutters.

Slashes to Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals are among the automatic cuts - along with deep slices from the Pentagon budget - that will occur in December if Congress does not accept $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction proposals from a bipartisan committee that will be free to propose tax hikes or cuts in Social Security. If those choices are a rock, the history of the 1997 law shows that reducing Medicare payments to doctors is a hard place.

Lobbyists for doctors and hospitals are sounding alarms, asserting that the cuts, which politicians claim will not affect Medicare beneficiaries, would harm patients by affecting their access to and quality of care"..............READ MORE

'AHA blasts Medicare, Medicaid cuts to fix deficit'

bank bailouts and wars are more important.........now move along.........from fiercehealthfinance............

"In a letter submitted last week to the U.S. Senate's Finance Committee, the American Hospital Association (AHA) strongly stated its opposition to cuts in the Medicare or Medicaid programs to address the budget deficit, reports AHA News Now.

The current U.S. deficit currently totals about $14 trillion. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are currently meeting to craft an agreement on raising the borrowing ceiling for the U.S. government prior to technically defaulting on its obligations in early August.

"The deficit reduction plans offered thus far fail to consider an important reality: America's hospitals already are absorbing $155 billion in payment reductions," the statement asserted. The AHA claimed that additional cuts "could negatively impact patient care: services eliminated; longer waits for care; emergency departments shut down; and [reduce] staffing."

Many organizations that represent hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers have been adamantly opposed to enforcing the sustainable growth rate formula for Medicare, which have resulted in double-digit cuts in payments to physicians. As an alternative, lawmakers have authorized a series of bills intended to keep the cuts in check until an alternative to SGR can be created".................READ MORE

'Weighing the Colorado Impact of Cuts Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid'

from publicnewsservice.........

"Nearly $100 million a year. Those are the proposed Medicaid cuts to Colorado alone in the current federal debt-reduction discussions.

As Congress and President Obama discuss cuts in Medicaid and other "entitlement" programs such as Social Security and Medicare as part of talks to raise the debt ceiling, some Coloradans are asking them to consider the economic impacts of those cuts.

Adela Flores-Brennan, an attorney with the Colorado Center on Law and Policy (CCLP), says a 5 percent reduction just to Colorado's federal Medicaid funding would cost the state more than 2,500 jobs.

"Federal cuts to Medicaid will merely shift costs to the states that continue to struggle to balance their own budgets. We simply cannot afford to support severe cuts to health care to the most vulnerable while protecting tax cuts for the wealthiest"................READ MORE

'Been to a Nursing Home Lately?'

a must read from truthout.......

"With Republicans in the Senate and Congress almost unanimous about wanting to terminate Medicare and Medicaid, I think it’s time we all pay a visit to a nursing home and see the greedy senior citizens whose stubborn longevity threatens the very idea of a luxury tax break on yachts and second homes.

I’m serious. This is what it’s come down to. During my lifetime, the richest five percent of the American population saw their tax rates drop by almost two thirds while their income outpaced the rest of the nation by similar numbers. Despite the revenue shortfalls caused by these cuts, the Republican Bush administration started two wars, one of which is now the longest war in US history, saddling us with what is ballooning into a multi-trillion dollar war debt. But unlike their predecessors, they never instituted a war tax to cover these costs. The result was predictable to anyone who ever balanced a checkbook. The math is simple. Wild military spending coupled with irresponsible tax giveaways to the rich equals structural deficits as sure as the sun will rise"..............LINK