The Congressional Budget Office released a grim economic outlook predicting a $316 billion price tag for repealing Medicare's sustainable growth rate formula. That's up from $290 billion just last year. As House and Senate lawmakers debate how to pay for an extension to the payroll tax holiday, they agreed that the SGR should be replaced. Now they just have to agree on how to pay for it and how long it should last. 

Courtesy C-SPAN CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf told lawmakers that the nation could face 8.9% unemployment and $1.1 trillion in budget deficits.

More than 100 physician groups have offered their own suggestion for funding an SGR replacement: war savings. The CBO estimates that money no longer being used to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan totals $838 billion. 

For more details on that and to hear about the most recent Republican swipes at the Affordable Care Act, listen to this week's Policy & Practice Podcast.

-- Frances Correa (FMCReporting) 

02/06/12