The nation's hospitals are being forced to swallow additional Medicare cuts as lawmakers rush to approve a budget deal before the holiday recess. The deal reached between Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) finds $28 billion in deficit savings by extending sequester cuts to Medicare until 2023. Those cuts had been scheduled to expire in 2021. With the deal on the fast track to passage, hospital groups are resigned to the agreement becoming law. But they are already plotting to reverse the changes in 2014.
