Yesterday, President Obama proposed a medical health agency budget cut which would mark the first time in the agency’s 30 years of existence that it has cut back in spending. He proposed a 2 percent cut which would lower the budget to an amount of $892 billion. Some find this proposal striking because of the fact that the health agency’s two biggest programs, Medicare and Medicaid, have been constantly on the rise growing more than 8 percent a year. However, President Obama’s budget plan doesn’t propose any elemental changes that would decrease the rate of growth of Medicare and Medicaid, which “together insure more than 100 million elderly, disabled and low-income people.”
The President’s proposed budget cut has both its pro’s and con’s. On the negative side, the new budget would get rid of a $318 million dollar program that trains doctors at children’s hospitals. Many people including the president of the National Association of Children’s Hospitals, Lawrence A. McAndrews, disagree with this aspect of the proposal. Mcandrew’s states that removing this program would “jeopardize the children’s access to physicians” and “exacerbate the current national shortage of pediatric specialists such as neurologists and surgeons.” Also the budget cut would take money away from the states and cities that would help prepare for health emergencies like pandemic flu.
Although the budget cut has its negatives, the numerous positive aspects seem to outweigh them. Obama seeks to spare doctors from a deep cut in Medicare fees that they would have to otherwise face in January 2012. He plans to do this by allocating $54 billion to freeze doctors’ payments in 2012 and 2013. President Obama also plans to offer $250 million to states in throughout the next 4 years to test ways of curbing medical malpractice litigation, and the new budget would provide food inspections and research into cancer, infectious diseases, and new drugs with a significant amount of more money. This new budget plan would also provide researchers and scientists with greater opportunity to research cures and discover new medicines. An example of this is Dr. Francis S. Collins who is expected by October to open a new center to “accelerate the discovery of medicines” and Obama and the administration are requesting the permission to allocate $100 million towards his cause.
Looking at the big picture, the major moves are as follows; The administration is asking that the budget of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which finances the majority of the nation’s research on H.I.V. and AIDS, be increased by $100 million, to $4.9 billion, and the proposal also requests that the budget of the National Cancer Institute be increased by $95 million, to $5.2 billion. The Food and Drug Administration would also have its budget increased by $1.07 billion to $4.36 billion, from $3.29 billion in 2010. $634 million of this increase would come from fees paid by drug, tobacco, food and medical device companies.
What is your general opinion on the new budget cut?
Do you think it is wise for the President to cut back spending when it has been proved Medicare and Medicaid have constantly been growing, and taking into account that the department has increased duties under the new health care law?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/health/policy/15health.html?_r=1&ref=politics
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