REVEALED: Cantor’s Secret Memo For $350bn In Cuts from Medicare & Medicaid

[tpsbmam]

From TPM:

The cuts themselves were first identified by a bipartisan working group of legislators led by Vice President Joe Biden as cuts that could garner bipartisan support -- contingent on the assumption that Republicans agree to put new tax revenue of some kind on the table.

President Obama reportedly rejected this proposal on the grounds that the GOP has refused anything other than revenue-neutral deficit reduction. A Cantor spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Though the memo lacks key details about many of the cuts, it contains enough to show where, exactly, Republicans hope to achieve savings. Its largest single source of savings -- $100 billion worth -- comes from what the memo terms "Medicaid FMAP Reform," or matching funds to state governments for providing Medicaid services.

It calls for up to $53 billion in savings from instituting new cost-sharing protocols for so-called Medigap policies -- supplemental insurance sold to Medicare beneficiaries to cover the cost of services not covered, or partially covered by Medicare. Specifically, it would institute a $530 out-of-pocket premium for certain Medigap plans. It also calls for over $80 billion in additional cost-shifting for home health coverage, and for medical and prescription drug coverage.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. The Privatization Party

[Faygo Kid]

2. Cantor must be stopped. He must be Newtered.

He's doing it to himself, and thank you, Mr. President, for reminding him that Fox and talk radio - even the Kochs - don't rule us just yet.

[bhikkhu]

3. Looks like mostly waste-reduction and efficiency savings.

Mostly...I'm still waiting to see how things work out for health care as a whole, wishing to have insurance someday myself.