Attention focuses on 'super committee' and Medicare

Sep 8 2011

Health care industries and professionals have contributed millions of dollars over the years to the lawmakers now on the special deficit panel, The Associated Press reports. Meanwhile, some liberal groups are pressuring to protect safety-net programs, while a member of the committee comments on the possibility of compromise.

The Associated Press: Debt Commission Members Rake In Health Money
Doctors, drugmakers, hospitals and health insurers have spent millions over the years wooing lawmakers who now are on the powerful congressional panel charged with finding a formula to control deficits and debt, a new analysis finds. Those very same industries would get hit hard if the super committee succeeds. ... The [Center for Responsive Politics] analysis found that health professionals -; a category dominated by doctors -; rank among the top 10 sources of campaign dollars for all but two of the panel's members (Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/7).

Reuters: Health Care Lobbyists Want Debt Committee To Fail
The powerful health care industry hopes a congressional "super committee" tasked with slashing America's debt will fail and is lobbying instead for automatic spending cuts that will kick in if the panel deadlocks. Much of the health sector believes the spending cuts, which will be triggered if the committee fails to find at least $1.2 trillion in savings over 10 years, will be less draconian than any deficit-reduction deal, according to lobbyists and health care groups interviewed by Reuters (Reid and Yukhananov, 9/6).

The Seattle Times: Liberal Groups Push Sen. Murray To Avoid Social-Program Cuts
(A)s the congressional deficit-reduction committee (Sen. Patty) Murray co-chairs gears up for its first hearing Thursday, progressive advocates are fretting over just how much zeal she will show in defending Social Security, Medicare and other safety-net programs. ... Murray has studiously avoided any absolute pronouncements. That includes whether she would insist on letting Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthy or would accept delaying Medicare eligibility until age 67 (Song, 9/7).

Politico: Jon Kyl Lowers Super Committee Expectations
Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) is lowering expectations for the new House-Senate deficit-slashing committee, saying that it'll be "very, very hard" for the six Democrats and six Republicans to bend on bedrock principles over taxes and entitlements. ... Kyl voiced optimism that the committee could find common ground to reach the goal to slash $1.5 trillion in budget deficits over the next decade. But he said that if there's an effort to dramatically overhaul Medicare or the tax code, for instance, it'll be extremely difficult for the committee to reach its goal (Raju, 9/6).

The Hill: Veteran Budget Staffers Offer Differing Views On Deficit Medicare Trigger
Rudy Penner, a former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office during the Reagan years, said that the debt to raise the federal debt ceiling comes "close" to a happy medium on the triggers. ... Penner, a fellow at the Urban Institute, said one problem is that Medicare is cut in the trigger. ... Bill Hoagland, who served as Senate Budget Committee staff director under former Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), disagreed. He said that the 2 percent cap on payments to providers in the trigger makes it less of a factor (Wasson, 9/6).