The Senate declined on May 25 to consider a House-approved plan to cut U.S. spending by $4 trillion over the next decade, an initiative that would have involved significant changes to Medicare and Medicaid, according to an American Medical News report.
A motion to bring the plan, crafted by House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), to the floor failed on a 40-57 vote. The House approved the plan on April 14 with only a few Republicans voting in opposition.
The plan to cut spending would involve changing Medicare into a voucher program and Medicaid into a block grant program, a suggestion that Democrats have branded as an attack on the health security of elderly patients and the poor. Mr. Ryan has responded that Medicare, Medicaid and the U.S. economy are in danger without a significant overhaul of the programs' financing.
The plan would change Medicaid from a program with defined benefits into a block-grant program with fixed federal spending, a change that would repeal the healthcare reform law's Medicaid expansion and reduce federal Medicaid spending by $1.4 trillion in the next 10 years, according to the report. According to a Kaiser Health Tracking Poll in May, 61 percent of Americans oppose turning Medicaid into a block-grant program.
Read the American Medical News report on Medicare and Medicaid.
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A motion to bring the plan, crafted by House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), to the floor failed on a 40-57 vote. The House approved the plan on April 14 with only a few Republicans voting in opposition.
The plan to cut spending would involve changing Medicare into a voucher program and Medicaid into a block grant program, a suggestion that Democrats have branded as an attack on the health security of elderly patients and the poor. Mr. Ryan has responded that Medicare, Medicaid and the U.S. economy are in danger without a significant overhaul of the programs' financing.
The plan would change Medicaid from a program with defined benefits into a block-grant program with fixed federal spending, a change that would repeal the healthcare reform law's Medicaid expansion and reduce federal Medicaid spending by $1.4 trillion in the next 10 years, according to the report. According to a Kaiser Health Tracking Poll in May, 61 percent of Americans oppose turning Medicaid into a block-grant program.
Read the American Medical News report on Medicare and Medicaid.
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Updated Washington State Surgery Center Fee Schedule Now Available