Warning on Medicare

A plan to cut future Medicare spending would sharply curtail benefits for some senior citizens and could hamper access to health care for others, according to the agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid. The agency said that the Medicare spending cuts—a key funding source in President Obama’s proposed health-care reforms—could prompt hospitals to turn away Medicare patients.

Republicans seized on the report’s additional finding that the legislation backed by Democrats would increase health-care spending by $289 billion. It confirms that Democrats’ proposed bills “will increase costs, not decrease them,” said Michigan Rep. Dave Camp. But Democrats said health spending would increase even more without far-reaching reforms.

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