Washington Post — Hospitals Reach Deal With Administration
Vice President Biden will today announce with much fanfare another $155 billion in savings to the American health system. This time it’s hospitals, with drug companies and the nation’s largest healthcare providers having already taken their turns with dramatic announcements of late night deals and the photo-ops. And as in both previous cases, there is less here than meets the eye.
What writers Ceci Connolly and Michael Shear fail to point out is that most of the savings have already been discounted. $100 billion of the funds are from lower Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, reductions already planned or at least expected in the future anyway. Another $40 billion is from lower reimbursements for providing care for the uninsured down the road. But if the president gets his way, there won’t be any uninsured. So much for that $40 billion.
