Taxpayer Group Offers Blueprint for Beating Medicare's ...( From Renal Disease to Recovery Au...),Health

From Renal Disease to Recovery Audits, Systemic Fiscal Reforms Needed

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As federal lawmakers appeared headed toward a pre-Memorial Day showdown over key changes to Medicare benefit and reimbursement policies, the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) today offered a comprehensive blueprint to put the program on a more solid fiscal foundation - without tax hikes or price controls.

"When it comes to the financial condition of Medicare, the caregiver has as many ailments as the patients," NTU Vice President for Policy and Communications Pete Sepp said. "Unless Congress takes decisive steps, large and small, to control spending and empower consumers, the nation's taxpayers will soon be suffering from huge burdens they cannot carry."

Last year, the House of Representatives passed the Children's Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act, which would alter a number of federal health care policies. With the Senate Finance Committee preparing to consider its own version of the CHAMP Act, and with numerous other legislative proposals likely to come under scrutiny during this process, NTU prepared a lengthy analysis of "dos" and don'ts" for policymakers. Among the recommendations:

-- Enact Common-Sense Coverage Reforms. The private sector skillfully

employs "disease management" strategies that contain costs

without risking quality of care. Taking greater advantage of these gains

through Patient Coverage Extension for privately insured dialysis would

relieve taxpayer burdens associated with inefficient Medicare coverage.

-- Maintain Oversight. Tens of billions of tax dollars are lost every year

to waste, fraud, and abuse in federal health programs. Congress should

mandate more internal accounting and allow successful initiatives like

Recovery Audit Contractors to continue.

-- Preserve A
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