House Health Reform Bill Would Strengthen Medicare — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

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By Edwin Park

The House health reform bill (H.R. 3200)[1] includes a number of significant changes to the Medicare program that would enhance benefits and improve the quality of care, as well as shore up the program’s finances. Much of the discussion of Medicare in the health reform debate has focused, however, on various proposals to secure savings in that program, and a number of seniors appear to believe that Medicare “cuts” made in health reform would make them worse off — or at a minimum, that as Medicare beneficiaries, they would be no better off. [2]

Yet this is not the case. The Medicare provisions in the House health reform legislation would both strengthen Medicare’s financial footing and benefit most of the more-than-40 million seniors and people with disabilities whom Medicare covers.[3] For example, the bill would do the following:

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