Inside Deficit Reduction: What Now?

The Budget Control Act of 2011 tasked six senators and six representatives, from both sides of the aisle, to find at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade. After weeks of deliberation, members of the “Super Committee” did not reach an agreement by the November 23 deadline. As a result, automatic spending cuts to defense and social welfare programs are set to kick in beginning in January 2013, leaving many questions about the short-term and long-term consequences of the committee’s failed negotiations.

How will Congress and the executive branch react, especially in the context of a Presidential election campaign? What impact will a sequester have on the health care sector? Is Congress likely to devise alternatives by 2013, given such vast differences among lawmakers? How will implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act be affected? Are there longer-term steps to consider to rein in health care costs in both public and private sectors?

To address these questions and more, the Alliance for Health Reform and four cosponsors  presented a December 2 briefing. Panelists were: Katherine Hayes, George Washington University; Stuart Butler, The Heritage Foundation; Len Nichols, George Mason University; Sheila Burke, Harvard University; and Dan Mendelson, Avalere Health. Ed Howard of the Alliance moderated.

Along with the Alliance, cosponsoring the event were The Commonwealth Fund, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The SCAN Foundation. This was the final briefing in our four-briefing series on the deficit reduction process. Previous briefings provided an overview to the process, and considered potential impacts on Medicare and Medicaid.

Transcript

Full Transcript (Adobe Acrobat PDF)

Speaker Presentations

Katherine Hayes Presentation (PowerPoint)

Event Details

Agenda (Adobe Acrobat PDF)
Speaker Biographies (Adobe Acrobat PDF)