Medicare’s Fortunes Looking Up?

WASHINGTON — Maybe so, according to an annual report
issued Aug. 5 by the program’s trustees. Medicare savings in the
new health reform law would extend the Part A hospital trust fund
to 2029, the trustees said, stretching last year’s solvency
projection of 2017 by 12 years. Additionally, spending for Part B
would be lower because of payment reforms and fraud-fighting
provisions in the reform law. But critics say the Medicare math is
shaky since the projections depend on such things as improved
productivity by hospitals and the fact that pay cuts for physicians
will go forward. Under current law, the docs’ reimbursements would
be cut 23 percent on Dec. 1, 2010, a further 6.5 percent on Jan. 1,
2011, and 2.9 percent on Jan. 1, 2012. For the past decade,
Congress has moved to stop any physician cuts. The trustees report
is available at www.cms.hhs.gov/ReportsTrustFunds/downloads/tr2010.pdf