President Bush has proposed a cut in spending in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which provide medical care to millions of the elderly and poor in the U.S., by $196 billion over the next five years, federal officials said. According to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Mike Leavitt, the cut has been proposed to stop Medicare from going bankrupt in about 11 years. The proposed cuts would reduce annual spending growth from 7% at present to 5% in Medicare and from 7.3% to 7% in Medicaid.

The proposed bill is likely to meet strong opposition in Congress.