Good News! Proposed Cuts to Medicare Can Be Avoided With Saved Fraud Dollars!
As the country deals with our sputtering economy and Washington politicians try to deal with the nation’s steadily increasing debt, the President on Monday threw his budget recommendations into the mix. In our initial read it seems that, if the President has his way in 2013, a trillion dollar deficit will again be our fate; the defense budget will be cut; and the President will again bring huge cuts to Medicare. So far, I’ve heard people talk about the huge proposed deficit and the threat to our nation’s safety brought about by the proposed cuts to the military, but I’ve heard very little from anyone about the proposed new cuts to Medicare. Well, RetireSafe will not only talk about these proposed cuts, but will also shout out the good news; all the proposed cuts don’t need to happen. America can continue to benefit from the full lifesaving benefits of the Medicare health system. All of the money the President hoped to save by cutting payments to providers or increasing costs to patients can be found by reducing the waste, fraud and abuse that exists today in Medicare.
The bad news, the President’s budget proposed cutting $360 billion from Medicare. Most of the savings come from cuts to payments to providers . . . doctors, hospitals, service providers and drug companies, as well as increased home care copayments and higher Medicare premiums for many beneficiaries. For patients the provider cuts would translate into reduction in choices, as more providers refused to take Medicare patients and an additional increase in cost, as the cost increases are passed on through more increased co-pays and/or higher supplemental insurance costs.
The good news, by many estimates, including the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), ten cents of every Medicare dollar is lost to waste, fraud, and abuse (I know that doesn’t sound like good news but bear with me). The CBO estimate for total Medicare spending in 2011 is $563 billion. If we are able to recover just 64% of the existing waste, fraud, and abuse we can avoid the draconian cuts proposed in the President’s budget completely. That is good news, no cut in benefits, no increase in costs and a more reliable and trusted Medicare program. What would be even better news is if the Government quit spending like crazy and used the money recovered from waste, fraud, and abuse to strengthen the fiscal health of Medicare and encourage even more preventative care and research into cures.
Everyone needs to show their anger about the President’s continued efforts to cut Medicare and should be even angrier that he and others continue to ignore a source of revenue that is a win/win for everyone. Before we cut benefits and raise costs we should fight fraud first.
More Thoughts from President Phillips