MedPage Today
Nov. 19, 2012
If the country falls off the dreaded "fiscal cliff" -- a series of mandatory federal spending cuts and tax increases -- at the end of next month, Medicare will see nearly $12 billion in spending cuts and the National Institutes of Health will lose money for about 700 grants. And that's just in one year.
But as dire as that outlook sounds, long-term support of federal health programs could be even worse as lawmakers try to avert the cliff, health policy experts said here last week at a briefing on the topic sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform.
"Most budget plans on the table take more out of healthcare than what is in the sequester," Bill Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, said. "The seriousness of finding a balanced approach to dealing with our fiscal outlook will require contributions made out of this sector whether it's from the sequester or not."
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