Recent projections from the Congressional Budget Office that reduce the cumulative federal deficit from $6.7 trillion to $3.5 trillion for 2012-2021 include the assumption that "spending for Medicare will be constrained by ... the sustainable growth rate," the CBO recently reported.
The largest share (about two-thirds) of the projected reduction comes from the Budget Control Act, the agreement on the debt ceiling that President Obama signed on Aug. 2. Approximately $300 billion, however, comes from reductions related to the SGR, including a nearly 30% cut in physician fees scheduled to go into effect this January.
Congress has voted to override scheduled SGR reductions every year since 2003, the CBO noted.