...while maintaining payments to insurance companies through flawed Medicare Advantage program Reporting in the International Herald Tribune, Robert Pear reports that the president's budget, which will be released Monday, will slash Medicare and Medicaid spending to an even greater extent than his FY 2008 request. Budget documents show that Bush will propose legislative changes in Medicare to save $6 billion in the next year and $91 billion from 2009 to 2013. In his last budget, by contrast, his legislative proposals would have saved $4 billion in the first year and $65.6 billion over five years. Bush's budget also takes aim at Medicaid, the insurance program for low-income people. He would pare $1.2 billion from Medicaid next year and nearly $14 billion over five years. [...] Most of the Medicare savings in the president's budget would be achieved by reducing the annual update in payments to hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, ambulances and home care agencies. The budget would not touch payments to insurance companies for private Medicare Advantage plans, even though many Democrats and independent experts say those plans are overpaid. These harsh cuts are, of course, a non-starter for Congress, but they're probably a predictor for what's in store for the rest of the budget.