President Obama’s 2013 budget proposal calls for spending cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, including a reduction in Medicare payments to nursing homes.
The president’s budget, which sticks closely to a fiscal plan he proposed in September, includes $3 trillion in deficit reductions over 10 years. The budget, which will be officially released next week, does not call for major structural changes to Medicare and Medicaid, the Wall Street Journal reports.
But it does call for Medicare cuts worth about $248 billion, and Medicaid cuts of roughly $72 billion. It does not include a proposal to increase the Medicare eligibility age.
The new budget proposal includes higher premiums and deductibles for some beneficiaries and reduced payments to drug companies, hospitals and nursing homes, according to published reports. In total, the president is calling for $3 trillion in deficit reductions and $1.5 trillion in tax increases for families earning more than $250,000 a year.
