Health Reform Saves Medicare $8B by 2011: White House

Overhaul could save $575B over the next decade
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 2, 2010 3:38 PM CDT
Health Reform Saves Medicare $8B by 2011: White House
This undated video image provided by Medicare.gov shows actor Andy Griffith in a new role: pitching President Obama's health care law to seniors, in a cable television ad paid for by Medicare.    ((AP Photo/Medicare.gov))

The new health overhaul law is starting to produce savings for Medicare and will eventually add more than a decade of solvency to the program's trust fund, the Obama administration said in an upbeat report released today. Medicare will save about $8 billion by the end of next year, and as much as $575 billion over the rest of the decade, the report said. "This reflects the priority we put on acting quickly to secure Medicare's future," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

"We are going to ensure that seniors and Americans with disabilities get more value when they go to the hospital or to see a doctor," Sebelius added. Release of the analysis comes ahead of the official annual financial checkup for Social Security and Medicare from program trustees, due later this week. Today's report provides support for the administration's position that the health care law strengthens health care for seniors, but the trustees' report could well call attention to deeper problems. (More Medicare stories.)

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