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Sequester would cut $11 billion from Medicare
Sequestration would cut $11 billion from Medicare and take millions of dollars away from Affordable Care Act implementation programs.
The Obama administration released its highly anticipated report Friday on the effects of sequestration — a blunt-force budget-cutting tool that Congress created when it raised the country's debt ceiling.
The sequester would make deep cuts to defense spending as well as domestic programs. Medicare payments to doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers would take an across-the-board 2 percent cut. That would come out to roughly $11 billion, according to the administration's report.
The sequester would also make significant cuts to programs created by the Affordable Care Act, which are not subject to the 2 percent cap.
Overall "program management" at the agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid would be cut by more than $60 million if the automatic spending cuts are allowed to go into effect.
Congress exempted Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program from the sequester, but other healthcare programs would have to absorb big hits.
The Food and Drug Administration would lose $318 million — more than 8 percent of its budget. And the National Institutes of Health would see a cut of more than $2.5 billion. Academics and other advocates for medical research say the NIH cuts would be devastating for medical science.
