Federal lawmakers are in budget negotiations this week. (Kaiser Network)
One program under discussion is Medicare. The House of Representatives version of the Omnibus Appropriations bill includes $50 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage plans. Max Baucus, a Democrat and chair of the Senate Finance Committee, wants to reduce cuts to $20 billion. Lawmakers will continue debating the budget bill today.
Additionally, a 2004 moratorium on the building of new physician-owned specialty hospitals has expired, and it seems some lawmakers want to renew it. Why? Because they believe these hospitals create conflicts of interest. From Kaiser:
Such hospitals…take the most easily treatable patients, leaving community hospitals to treat the more costly, many times uninsured, patients. Proponents of physician-owned hospitals say the centers increase quality of care and competition.
