Dozens of healthcare interest groups have offered their opinions to the deficit "supercommittee" as it moves closer to a deadline to make $1.2 trillion in budget cuts, reports Kaiser Health News.
The bipartisan committee has been under a hail of lobbying from these groups. AARP, which is the primary lobby for Americans over the age of 55, noted in a letter to the committee that its constituents "recognize the urgent need to address the nation's fiscal deficit ... But older Americans, across party and regional lines, strongly oppose fast-track cuts to the healthcare and retirement benefits they have paid into and depend upon."
On the opposite end of the demographic spectrum, the Children's Health Fund requested that the committee not make cuts to its safety net programs. "Medicaid and the Child Health Insurance Program ... must be preserved no matter what else changes in our country," the organization said in a statement. "When you start to cut the funds for Medicaid and CHIP you see children suffer."
The committee also has been lobbied by the American Medical Association, Families USA, America's Health Insurance Plans, and many others, all asking that their interests be preserved.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration said it would not interfere should the committee fail to reach a consensus and cuts are made automatically, notes Politico.
For more information:
- read the Kaiser Health News article
- read the Politico article