Hospitals reach deal with administration

The nation's hospitals have agreed to contribute $155 billion over 10 years toward the cost of insuring the 47 million Americans without health coverage, according to two industry sources. About $100 billion of the savings would come through lower-than-expected Medicare and Medicaid payments to hospitals, the sources told the Washington Post. About $40 billion would be saved by slowly reducing what hospitals get to care for the uninsured, they added. The reductions would probably not begin for several years, after a significant number of people have enrolled in the new insurance programs. The agreement is the latest in a series of side deals that aim to reduce the cost of revamping the nation's healthcare system and to neutralize industries that have historically opposed such reforms.