AIDS, Medicare Reportedly Face U.S. Fund Cuts

The Reagan Administration is proposing cuts in AIDS research, Medicare physician fees and restrictions in payments for home health care in its draft budget for the 1987 fiscal year, it was reported Sunday.

The draft budget, which President Reagan has tentatively approved, calls for a $48-million reduction in federal support for research on AIDS, the deadly acquired immune deficiency syndrome, the New York Times reported in its Sunday editions.

The newspaper, quoting unnamed Administration officials, said that the cuts would cancel additional allocations appropriated by Congress for this fiscal year, reducing the amount to $190 million.

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Spokesmen for the Office of Management and Budget refused to comment on the newspaper’s report.

Administration officials told the newspaper that the cuts would not directly affect biomedical research to find a cure for AIDS but could affect the treatment of patients.

The cuts would come from projects financing blood testing, telephone hot lines and home health care for AIDS victims.

Medicare Cuts

The budget for the first time calls for reductions in Medicare payments to physicians, which have been frozen since July, 1984, the newspaper said. Medicare, which cost $71.4 billion for the last fiscal year, is the health insurance program for 30 million elderly and disabled Americans.

The health care reductions are part of a package of spending cuts the Reagan Administration is proposing to reduce the federal deficit to limits designated by a new law designed to eliminate the $212-billion federal deficit by 1991.

The budget proposal also calls for cutting back on Medicare-funded home health services and proposes mechanisms to identify overuse, targeting beneficiaries receiving more than 100 visits each year, and physicians who order daily visits for extended periods.