Deficit-reduction plan would cut $600B from Medicare, Medicaid

Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, co-chairs of President Obama's deficit-reduction commission, announced $2.4 trillion in deficit cuts over the next decade. A quarter of the deficit reduction, amounting to $600 billion, would come from federal healthcare programs, The Hill's Healthwatch reported. Bowles and Simpson are calling for lower provider payments, higher premiums for higher earners, savings from lower drug costs and "adjustments to account for an aging population," according to the article. On March 1, $85 billion in automatic government-wide spending cuts is set to kick in. Article