The Nation - News from Aug. 2, 1985

A House committee approved cutting Medicare and Medicaid spending by $150 million over three years but tempered the cuts with new programs of prenatal care for poor women and vision care for the elderly. The Energy and Commerce Committee approved a package of changes intended to bring spending on the programs within budgetary limits voted by the House for fiscal 1986, which starts Oct. 1. The cuts include requirements for a second doctor’s opinion before certain types of surgery, which the panel estimated would save $215 million over three years.