April 12, 2013
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) met Wednesday to discuss budget negotiations. The architects of the House and Senate budgets had a "constructive discussion" and are "working to find common ground," according to a joint statement. Medicare funding is one major roadblock to an agreement.
Substantial Medicare cuts will be on the table after the White House budget is released Wednesday, administration officials have indicated. The proposed budget is expected to include about $400 billion in Medicare savings over 10 years.
April 01, 2013
The House Budget Committee approved the latest spending plan from Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) in March. The vote was 22 to 17 along party lines.
March 28, 2013
Medicare and Medicaid should not be significantly altered, because spending for these programs is trending downward and incentives tied to the programs are working, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
March 25, 2013
Both houses of Congress passed budgets late last week, setting up the next phase of the ongoing debate over healthcare spending.
March 15, 2013
Thursday's Congressional hearing about immigration policy became a forum for discussing how the recently proposed budget from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) would affect long-term care providers.
March 13, 2013
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) submitted a proposed budget calling for large cuts to Medicaid and partial privatization of Medicare on Tuesday. The budget — which includes repealing the Affordable Care Act — would save the federal government $2.5 trillion in healthcare costs over the next decade, according to Ryan.
March 05, 2013
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) is working on a proposed budget that would revamp the Medicare program. Republicans believe the option of turning Medicare into a voucher program may win support despite uncertainty over the effects of $85 billion in automatic spending cuts that began last Friday, the Los Angeles Times reports.
January 23, 2013
Medicare and Medicaid funds could face steep cuts in the House of Representatives' 2014 budget. GOP congressional leaders have promised dramatic spending reductions to rally conservative support for a three-month extension of the nation's debt ceiling without the condition of spending cuts. With a debt ceiling extension approved, legislators likely would tackle sequestration cuts scheduled to take effect March 1.
Republican proposals to convert Medicaid into a block grant program would cut government payments to nursing homes by $220.2 billion between 2013 and 2022, a new analysis finds.
October 16, 2012
Under a premium-support model for Medicare, six in 10 beneficiaries would see an increase in their premiums, a non-partisan study released Monday found.
September 25, 2012
If the AARP convention last week was any indication, some seniors aren't buying what Paul Ryan is selling. The question is, are you?
September 04, 2012
While Mitt Romney advocates $810 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade, President Obama's plan would cost taxpayers an additional $642 billion over the same period. The president's plan would also add millions of people as Medicaid beneficiaries.
August 29, 2012
Republican National Convention delegates voted Tuesday on the party's official platform, which proposes significant structural changes to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. It notably calls for the repeal of recent healthcare reforms mandated under the Affordable Care Act.
Long-term care providers will be giving the Republican national convention in Tampa more scrutiny than usual next week.That's when the party's leaders will give Medicare reform higher importance than usual. With the nomination of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his running mate earlier this month, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his advisors all but guaranteed that Medicare will be more prominently mentioned in discussions and party platform building. As a House leader, Ryan led a defiant charge against Obama administration policies to overhaul the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement programs. Many analysts believe the Medicare issue will play a pivotal role in at least a handful of key states in this November's election.
August 15, 2012
Now that the Olympics are over, let politics take center stage again. Clearly, no one is interested in winning the silver medal when it comes to the race for U.S. president. But interest in second bananas IS high.
June 08, 2012
GOP and Democratic strategists were watching the Wisconsin governorship recall race earlier this week as a possible harbinger of this fall's presidential election. But that's a shortsighted view.
April 11, 2012
The fiscal 2013 budget, which was passed in the House, would cause seniors' healthcare costs to surge and wreak havoc on Medicare and Medicaid, two new reports suggest.
March 26, 2012
It's becoming increasingly obvious that our elected leaders need to quit playing political chicken. Otherwise, there are going to be some bleak days ahead for We the People.
March 20, 2012
The proposed fiscal 2013 budget released by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) Tuesday would repeal the Affordable Care Act and cut Medicaid spending by $810 billion over 10 years.
March 19, 2012
An analysis of President Obama's proposed fiscal 2013 budget found it would lower government spending on Medicare by $276 billion and Medicaid by $66 billion over 10 years.
Long-term care operators are all ears on an Obama administration proposal that would lower the top corporate tax rate to 28%. The administration was expected to announce today a plan to reform taxes on businesses.
Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum says he favors privatizing Medicare and says he would like to see the elimination of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Programs administered at least in part by CMS account for an overwhelming majority of payments made to skilled nursing providers
June 24, 2011
Democrats have been successful in telling Americans that the Republican-proposed budget known as the "Ryan plan" could have a significantly negative impact on nursing home residents, according to a new poll.
The Affordable Care Act's Independent Payment Advisory Board, a panel created by the law to contain Medicare costs, is now drawing criticism from both major political parties.
The U.S. Senate's vote rejecting Republicans' proposed 2012 budget — and all of its provisions to drastically overhaul Medicare and Medicaid — means both sides are back to debating how to best balance the federal budget.
May 26, 2011
Close to 60% of Americans do not want Congress to change the federal-state Medicaid program for low-income individuals, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey.
May 06, 2011
Key Republican lawmakers said they would wait until after the 2012 elections to make major changes to Medicare, according to published reports. At least one key GOP member, however, challenged that assertion.
April 28, 2011
Republican House members convened a private conference call Tuesday to talk about ways to reshape the Medicare reform discussion, Congressional aides told Reuters.
April 18, 2011
Voting along party lines, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Rep. Paul Ryan's proposed fiscal year 2012 budget Friday.
