As a result of the Budget Control Act of 2011 , mandatory federal spending cuts, commonly known as “sequestration,” are required. This law is expected to generate spending cuts of $109 billion in the first year and $1.2 trillion through 2021. Sequestration was originally expected to begin January 2, 2013, but was postponed for two months through the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 , passed on December 31, 2012.
The debt limit crisis was resolved with the enactment of the Budget Control Act of 2011 . The good news for Medicare providers is there are no immediate cuts to provider payment. In a best-case scenario, there may not be any in the longer term, either, but the bad news is such cuts are more likely than not to occur.