Budget sequester: potential impact on health care providers.

I present an overview of the potential impact on health care providers due to blanket federal spending cuts (the Sequester) triggered by the Budget Control Act of 2011, highlighting specific areas of impact to both academic and private practice physicians. The aim is to provide some clarity and context to the health care component of the Sequester and, consequently, defuse some of the hype and hyperbole that can accompany a discussion of such complexity, rife with so many impassioned stakeholders. The Budget Control Act of 2011 was enacted to avert a looming debt-ceiling crisis, which could have resulted in the United States defaulting on its sovereign debt for the first time in the history of the country. The impact of this would be analogous to a private citizen defaulting on his mortgage, restricting his ability to borrow more money in the future. Among other mandates, the law requires $1.2 trillion in federal spending cuts during 9 years, for FY 2013 through 2021. These cuts are split evenly between defense (military) and nondefense spending. The initial start date of January 1, 2013, was postponed through additional legislation (American Taxpayer Relief Act) to March 1.