Advocacy in Action | TeamHealth's Legislative Action Center

President’s FY 2008 Budget

Next week, President Bush is expected to propose more than $70 billion in savings from Medicare and Medicaid over five years according to administration officials. The proposed cuts are part of the Administration’s plan to balance the budget by 2012. Under Bush's proposal, a greater percentage of Medicare beneficiaries with relatively high incomes would be required to pay more than the standard monthly premium, which currently is $93.50. Administration officials did not provide details about proposed Medicare premium increases. Bush also is expected to propose freezing Medicare payments to home health agencies and reducing the inflation allowance paid to hospitals, nursing homes and other providers. The FY 2008 budget proposal assumes that the Medicare reimbursement cut for doctors scheduled to go into effect next year will be at least 8%. The President also is expected to propose changes to SCHIP, possibly by reducing federal payments to states that cover children whose families have incomes that exceed 200% of the federal poverty level.

The budget proposal also will request new funds to support a “rapid-learning” healthcare system that uses data from electronic health records to accelerate clinical research. The system is expected to include private- and public-sector initiatives drawing on data from the electronic health records of millions of people to rapidly advance the evidence base for clinical care.