US Capitol Capsule: Federal shutdown averted, but spending reductions could spell trouble for expensive drugs
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
With a US government shutdown averted at the eleventh hour on 8 April – which would have resulted in a furloughing of about 48,000 Health and Human Services employees, including more than 11,700 from the US FDA – President Obama on 13 April is expected to lay out his plan for a more aggressive path for deficit reduction, with Medicare and Medicaid anticipated to undergo some additional spending cuts in his already proposed fiscal year 2012 budget (scripintelligence, 15 February 2011, 8 April 2011).
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