Experts: Provider Payment Cuts Will Affect Beneficiaries
Many experts argue that cutting Medicare and Medicaid payments to health care providers likely will negatively affect beneficiaries. Lawmakers are considering such cuts as a way to reduce the federal deficit. Some experts noted that as hospitals scale back services or as physicians limit the number of Medicaid or Medicare beneficiaries they see in response to payment reductions, access to care becomes more difficult.
- "In Cuts to Health Programs, Experts See Difficult Task in Protecting Patients" (Pear, New York Times, 9/20).