President Obama released his federal fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget proposal, setting forth a plan for spending $3.8 trillion next year. The proposal would reduce Medicare spending by $267 billion and Medicaid spending by $50 billion over the next 10 years. The President's FY 2013 budget includes many proposals from his February, April and September 2011 budget plans that would reduce federal payments for hospital and post-acute-care services to Medicare beneficiaries, including cuts to payments for bad debt, rural hospitals and graduate medical education (GME).

Hospital leaders from all over California traveled to Washington, D.C., to send a message to Congress that hospitals cannot withstand further cuts. Hospital leaders met with more than half of the entire California congressional delegation, including meetings with House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, and staff for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.

Measures to curb federal spending by trimming Medicare and Medicaid payments are options in the current deficit reduction environment. Providers already face billions of dollars in Medicare andMedicaid payment cuts. Efforts to further cut Medicare and Medicaid payments to providers jeopardize access to high quality healthcare services for America’s seniors and the poor. True entitlement reform and approaches to change the healthcare delivery system are needed – not provider cuts.