Medicare

Senators Seek Medicare Transparency

A long-running dispute about access to Medicare claims data could be resolved by bills pending in the Senate. Proponents assert the measures could combat fraud and abuse in one of the federal government's most expensive programs and might also help improve health outcomes and consumer decision making.

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Medicare is the Culprit

Jul 13, 2009 by Jocelyn Yin*

On July 8th, Peter R. Orszag, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote a letter to Reps. George Miller (D-CA), Charles Rangel (D-NY), and Henry Waxman (D-CA), to express the Administration's support for the policy changes that have been discussed thus far.  After commending their efforts thus far to make policies deficit-neutral, Orszag writes that these changes are not enough.

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House Hearing Questions Whether PAYGO is Enough to Control Spending

The House Budget Committee held a hearing on June 24 on the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Act of 2009, which was recently introduced by Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD). During the hearing, House members focused on the enforcement mechanisms in PAYGO, the significant exemptions granted under the proposed legislation, and whether the bill is the appropriate method to reinstate fiscal discipline in Congress.

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Bush Won't Raise Payroll Tax To Fund Social Security Changes

Dec 10, 2004 by Guest Blogger

President Bush made clear yesterday his opposition to raising payroll taxes in order to fund potential changes to social security. A payroll tax is a percentage of an individual's salary that goes into social security and medicare funds. The percentage paid into those funds is matched by employers, in order to raise adequate revenue for these entitlement programs.

While this administration is seriously looking into reforming social security -- an anti-poverty program which was implemented during the New Deal -- they have yet to explain how they will pay for this overhaul, which could cost anywhere from $1 - $2 trillion in transfer costs alone. On top of this, the administration has pledged to cut the deficit in half by 2009, and keep the first term tax cuts in place. Raising payroll taxes could help pay for social security overhaul, and even though the policy appears to have bipartisan support in Congress, the President has ruled it out as an option.

The fact that this administration is unwilling to look into raising payroll taxes means that they are more likely to look into increased borrowing or non-defense discretionary budget cuts to help stabilize the economy. In an article in today's Washington Post, Congressman Robert Matsui (D-CA) is quoted as saying, "I fear this means the administration will employ sham accounting gimmicks in an attempt to hide the true costs of their privatization schemes. Ultimately, hiding the truth about benefit cuts or fleecing the public on massive borrowing would have a disastrous effect on the economy, not to mention betray the trust of the American people."

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Beyond the Baseline: 10 Year Deficits Likely to Reach $5.5 Trillion

Deficits not "cut in half" in 5 years.

The Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) September 2004 "The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update" shows a baseline projection of a $422 billion deficit for 2004, and $348 billion for 2005. The 10-year baseline projections show a $2.3 trillion deficit over the next ten years; however, as the report notes, the baseline is not intended to be a good predictor of actual budgetary outcomes. A better predictor of budget deficits under "current policy" would put the deficit for 2005 at $405 billion and the 10-year deficit over $5.5 trillion.

With the increase in retirees necessitating increased Social Security and Medicare expenditures, the situation is not projected to improve after 2014 either, unless, of course, the direction of current policy is significantly changed. The CBO's report demonstrates that freezing discretionary spending will not solve the deficit problem; and that not extending the Bush tax cuts helps more, but also won't completely solve the longer term problem.

As the CBO put it "[e]ven if the economy grows more rapidly than projected, significant long-term strains on the budget will start to intensify within the next decade as the baby-boom generation begins to reach retirement age." Download full report (.pdf)

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Mid-Session Review Confirms Continuation of Record Deficits

Washington, D.C., July 30, 2004 - The White House's Office of Management and Budget today belatedly released its annual budgetary "Mid-Session Review," which attempts to put a positive spin on massive and worsening deficits and the lowest level of revenue in a half century. Download full press release (.pdf)

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Budget Process in the Service of Tax Cuts

It is important to remember the magnitude of the federal budget process on the outcome of community results. While budget process issues are often arcane and sometimes difficult to determine the affects on results, in the case of several of the president’s proposals, the purpose is very clear—to make tax cuts easier to pass and expansion of government services more difficult.

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OMB?s Revised Cost of Medicare Prescription Drug Benefits Raises Questions

During last year’s debate on the Prescription Drug and Medicare Improvement Act of 2003, Congress used an outlay cost estimate of $395 billion for the new program. However, in the president’s 2005 budget, the 10-year outlay cost was estimated to be $534 billion – 35 percent greater than the initial estimate. See Table S-13, Page 387, 2005 budget..

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Beyond the Baseline: 10 Year Deficits Likely to Reach $5.9 Trillion

The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) August 2003 Budget and Economic Update shows a baseline projection of a $401 billion deficit for 2003, and a $480 billion deficit for 2004. The 10-year baseline projections show a $1.4 trillion deficit over the next ten years; however, as the report notes, the baseline is not intended to be a good predictor of actual budgetary outcomes. A better predictor of budget deficits under current policy would put the deficit for 2004 at $496 billion and the 10-year deficit at nearly $6 trillion. Download full report (.pdf)

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