First and foremost, we have to get a handle on fraud, waste, and abuse within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  Cleaning up this mess will be facilitated through Operation Overhaul. 

 

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that "CMS faces many challenges related to implementing payment methods that encourage efficient service delivery, managing the program to serve beneficiaries well, and safeguarding the program from loss due to fraud, waste, and abuse."  They go on to say "Medicare has been designated as a High Risk program because its complexity and susceptibility to improper payments, in addition to its size, have led to serious management challenges.  Addressing these challenges requires improvements to payment methods, program management, and program safeguards."  They recommend the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In December 2010, the Obama White House released The Moment of Truth:  Report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, a report that the president and the leaders of both parties commissioned to address our nation’s fiscal challenges. 

 

The Commission is sometimes called Simpson-Bowles in a reference to its co-chairs Senator Alan Simpson (former Republican Senator from Wyoming) and Erskine Bowles (Chief of Staff to President Clinton).  The Commission included 18 members and one executive director appointed by the president.  The members included 6 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 6 members of the U.S. Senate.  The report has 6 components: discretionary spending cuts, comprehensive tax reform, health care cost containment, mandatory savings, Social Security reforms to ensure long-term solvency and reduce poverty, and budget process changes.  Read the entire report here.

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We don't agree with every single thing in The Moment of Truth.  However, the recommendations below are directly from the plan's comprehensive Social Security recommendations.  We believe this is a solid place to start: ​