How President Obama’s framework for reducing federal budget deficits compares with other proposals
•Obama: Cuts $340 billion over 10 years from projected increases in federal health care programs while preserving Medicare and Medicaid. Enforces the savings with a process that would implement cuts if a future Congress refused to make them.
•Fiscal Commission: Implements and expands Medicare changes in the 2010 health care law that were designed to reduce costs; sets limits for health care spending beyond 2020.
•Bipartisan Policy Center: Gradually raises Medicare Part B (doctor) premiums from 25% to 35% of program costs. Changes Medicare, starting in 2018, to a program that encourages the use of private plans, but keeps traditional Medicare as a backup system.
•House Republicans: Changes Medicare, starting in 2022, to a system in which the government would provide payments to beneficiaries to buy private insurance. The average payment, which would go to the insurer, would be $8,000 in 2022. Read more here.
