Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

The growth rate in Medicare spending -slowed considerably- during the period from 1992 to 2003, as compared with the period from 1975-1983, according to a -working paper- by the Congressional Budget Office.

CBO analyst Chapin White compared -excess- growth per-beneficiary during those two periods, and found that Medicare had grown by only 0.9 percent during the more recent period, compared with 5.5 percent in the earlier period. White defined -excess growth- as growth above economic expansion and the growing numbers of elderly people. (Access White's study online at www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/74xx/doc7453/2006-08.pdf.)

This analysis bucks the conventional wisdom--and it's not an official CBO forecast, White cautions. It certainly won't stop some policymakers from calling for more cuts to Medicare spending.

In his first address as Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson said the skyrocketing costs of Medicare (and Social Security) threaten the country's financial well-being, according to Investment News. He vowed to make reforming both programs his first task as Secretary.