Newspapers Examine FY 2008 Budget Proposal's Implications For Hospitals, Veterans

Main Category: Veterans / Ex-Servicemen
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 15 Feb 2007 - 5:00 PDT

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Several newspapers recently published articles that examined the budget proposal. Summaries appear below.

• Hospitals: Health industry leaders maintain that proposed reductions in Medicare reimbursements to hospitals and nursing homes included in the budget proposal "threaten to chip away at the quality of patient care," the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. American Hospital Association President Rich Umbdenstock said that the budget proposal would "inflict real damage on hospitals' ability to care for these patients" (Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 2/11). The Greater New York Hospital Association and the 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East union plan to launch a campaign against the proposed reductions in Medicare reimbursements that would include advertisements in the districts of important lawmakers. Officials for the group and union said that they have not decided when the campaign will begin or which lawmakers they will target (Pérez-Pena, New York Times, 2/13).
  
  
• Veterans: The budget proposal would reduce funds for health care for veterans by 2% in FY 2009 and would freeze funds at that level from FY 2010 through FY 2012, although the cost of health care for veterans continues to increase, the AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The budget proposal would increase funds for health care for veterans by 9% in FY 2008. House Appropriations Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chair Chet Edwards (D-Texas) said, "Either the administration is willingly proposing massive cuts in VA health care or its promise of a balanced budget by 2012 is based on completely unrealistic assumptions." White House Office of Management and Budget spokesperson Sean Kevelighan said that the proposed reduction and subsequent freeze in funds for health care for veterans "don't reflect any policy decisions." He added, "We'll revisit them when we do the (future) budgets" (AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/13).

Broadcast Coverage
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) in a recent interview on PBS' "Charlie Rose" discussed provisions in the budget proposal related to Medicare, Medicaid, NIH and other programs. In addition, the segment also includes a discussion on the health insurance proposal recently announced by Democratic presidential candidate former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) (Rose, "Charlie Rose," PBS, 2/9). Video of the segment is available online.

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