This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Estimate to repeal sustainable growth rate decreases to $245 billion
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
The Congressional Budget Office has lowered its estimation for future spending to $245 billion if Congress overrides the sustainable growth rate formula, which is used to calculate the fees physicians receive for patient services under Medicare, according to a report recently released by the office.
Most recently, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected the cost of overriding the sustainable growth rate (SGR) at $300 billion, but has now stated the number is estimated at $245 billion between 2013 and 2022 if current spending remains constant. If the SGR is allowed to operate as scheduled, then physicians can expect a 27% reduction in physician fees in January 2013 and additional reductions in subsequent years, according to the report.
Reasons for the cost estimate decrease are unclear, but can be attributed to economic factors and lower than projected spending in Medicare, consistent with the rest of the health care industry, Doug Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, said at a press conference on Aug. 22.
|
|
“What exactly is going on in the federal health programs and the health system more generally is not entirely clear to us or other analysts,” Elmendorf said. “Presumably, the weak state of the economy is a factor, but the magnitude of the slowdown of national health spending and the timing of that slowdown which seems to have started before the recession, we and most analysts think there are other structural factors at work as well.”
Elmendorf said slower growth on spending of prescription drugs, patent expirations, fewer “blockbuster drugs” and restructuring how health care is delivered all have been factors contributing to slower spending.
“What is causing that is also unclear,” Elmendorf said. “That could be partly due to providers’ concern about current or anticipating payment rates, to changes in how providers are getting paid in Medicare and private insurers. It could be due to more households paying more out of their own pockets in deductibles or cost-sharing when they are getting health care services.”
Reference:
www.cbo.gov
www.c-spanvideo.org/program/BudgetandEconomicOutlook9
