Health Spending and the "Supercommittee"

Less than a month remains before the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, popularly known as the Supercommittee, must submit a bill to Congress that will cut the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion in ten years. By design, everything is on the table.

While the Supercommittee is unlikely to achieve substantial cuts in federal health spending, it has the opportunity to take a historic step in uniting both Republicans and Democrats in reform that give Medicare (and, indirectly, Medicaid) patients, more control of their own health dollars.

Where do we find the room for compromise? Remarkably, it lies in President Obama's deficit-reduction proposal.  Don't believe me? Read more in October's Health Policy Prescription.