Medicare
Results per page: 50 | 100
Results by year: 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006
-
Statement: Robert Greenstein, Executive Director and James Horney, Director of Federal Fiscal Policy, on the Final Report from the Co-Chairs of the Deficit Commission
December 1, 2010
The new deficit reduction plan that the co-chairs of the President’s Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform — former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former Republican Senator Alan Simpson — presented today to commission members contains a number of relatively modest … -
Rivlin-Domenici Deficit Reduction Plan Is Superior to Bowles-Simpson in Most Areas
November 30, 2010
The Rivlin-Domenici deficit reduction plan, which a commission of the Bipartisan Policy Center unveiled last week, marks a significant improvement over a plan from the co-chairs of President Obama’s fiscal commission — with the exception of health care, in which the Rivlin-Domenici plan actually is more problematic. … -
Bowles-Simpson Plan Commendably Puts Everything on the Table But Has Major Deficiencies Because It Lacks an Appropriate Balance Between Program Cuts and Revenue Increases
November 16, 2010
I. Overview and Summary The November 10 plan from the co-chairs of President Obama’s Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform helps move the budget debate beyond misguided claims that policymakers can tame deficits simply or primarily by eliminating earmarks and “waste, fraud, and abuse.” It also wisely subjects all … -
New Deficit-Reduction Plan Would Jeopardize Health Reform
October 6, 2010
Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution and Maya MacGuineas of the New America Foundation recently offered a plan to reduce federal deficits and push down debt held by the public to 60 percent of gross domestic product by 2020.[1] The plan has several commendable features. It explicitly recognizes that it would be unrealistic to hold federal … -
Census Data Show Large Jump in Poverty and the Ranks of the Uninsured in 2009
September 17, 2010
Several points stand out from the data on income, poverty, and health insurance that the Census Bureau released on September 16: Poverty rose by a large amount in 2009, as 3.7 million more people fell into poverty. The number and percentage of Americans in poverty rose substantially, driven by deep job losses and record levels of … -
Media Briefing: Examining the New 2009 Census Data on Poverty, Income, and Health Insurance Coverage
September 16, 2010
-
Statement: Robert Greenstein, Executive Director, on Census’ 2009 Poverty and Health Insurance Data
September 16, 2010
The Census Bureau data for 2009 reflect the severity of the recent recession, as poverty rose sharply and the number of uninsured spiked. The new figures somewhat overstate the rise in poverty, however, because they do not count the bulk of direct assistance that the 2009 Recovery Act provided to … -
2010 Medicare Trustees’ Report Shows Benefits of Health Reform and Need for Its Successful Implementation
August 16, 2010
The 2010 annual report of Medicare’s trustees clearly demonstrates that the Affordable Care Act (or ACA, the recently enacted health reform legislation) has greatly improved the financial status of the Medicare program.[1] It also shows that successful implementation of the ACA is an essential first step toward slowing … -
Podcast: What Seniors Should Know About the New Health Reform Law
August 10, 2010
Policy Analyst January Angeles discusses how the new health reform law strengthens Medicare and protects seniors. Duration: 4:17
-
Statement: Robert Greenstein, Executive Director on the Medicare Trustees' Report
August 5, 2010
The new Medicare trustees report clearly demonstrates that the Affordable Care Act (or ACA, the recently enacted health reform legislation) has strengthened the financing of the Medicare program. It also shows that slowing the growth of health care costs will require substantial additional efforts. … -
Media Briefing: Understanding the Annual Reports of the Social Security and Medicare Trustees
August 5, 2010
Executive Director Robert Greenstein and Senior Fellow Paul Van de Water discuss the annual reports of the Social Security and Medicare trustees.
Duration: 15:46
-
Federal Spending Target of 21 Percent of GDP Not Appropriate Benchmark for Deficit-Reduction Efforts
July 28, 2010
The average level of federal spending over the years since 1970 — about 21 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) — does not provide a reasonable benchmark for the level of spending that will be necessary or appropriate in the future. The Heritage Foundation has proposed that, in developing its recommendations, the … -
Health Reform Changes to Medicare Advantage Strengthen Medicare and Protect Beneficiaries
July 27, 2010
The health reform law will significantly reduce the large overpayments Medicare makes to the private "Medicare Advantage" health plans that serve some beneficiaries. This will reduce premium costs for other Medicare enrollees and strengthen Medicare's overall finances. The law also includes stronger protections … -
The Ryan Budget's Radical Priorities
Revised July 7, 2010
I. Summary The Roadmap for America’s Future, which Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) — the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee — released in late January, calls for radical policy changes that would result in a massive transfer of resources from the broad majority of Americans to the nation’s … -
Podcast: Testimony of Robert Greenstein before the Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
June 30, 2010
Robert Greenstein, the Center’s Executive Director, discusses the need to be careful in addressing budget deficit in a testimony before the President’s Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform on June 30th, 2010.
Duration: 6:46
-
Testimony of Robert Greenstein, Executive Director and Jim Horney, Director of Federal Fiscal Policy before the Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
June 30, 2010
Members of the Commission, Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak to you today. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a nonpartisan research and policy institute that focuses both on fiscal policy and on programs and policies of particular importance to low- and moderate-income … -
Podcast: How the Health Reform Law Reduces the Deficit, Part 2
June 1, 2010
Paul Van de Water, a Senior Fellow at the Center, discusses the sources of revenue in the new health reform law. Duration: 4:30 -
Podcast: How the Health Reform Law Reduces the Deficit, Part 1
May 25, 2010
Paul Van de Water, a Senior Fellow at the Center, discusses how the health reform law saves money for the federal government. Duration: 3:53
-
Budgetary Concerns Should Not Be An Obstacle to Passing the New Jobs Bill
Revised May 20, 2010
Congress is about to take up a jobs bill that will provide a needed boost to the economic recovery and help people still struggling to find work in a difficult labor market. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin today released a summary of … -
Understanding the CMS Actuary’s Report on Health Reform
May 17, 2010
The analysis of the health reform legislation prepared by the chief actuary of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been widely misrepresented and misunderstood.[1] This brief paper describes some of that report’s key findings and clears up some of the most common misunderstandings. Does the actuary estimate that … -
How Health Reform Helps Reduce the Deficit
May 10, 2010
The new health reform law will extend coverage to over 30 million uninsured Americans and provide important consumer protections to tens of millions of insured Americans whose coverage may have critical gaps. These coverage expansions will be more than paid for by specific reductions in spending for Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal … -
Ryan’s Response to Center’s Analysis of “Roadmap” Is Off Base
Revised May 6, 2010
We are quite disappointed that, in responding to our analysis[1] of his budget plan, Rep. Paul Ryan accuses[2] the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities of “partisan demagoguery” as well as “factual errors and misleading statements.” Quite the contrary, we applied the same rigorous analytical process to Rep. Ryan’s Roadmap for America’s … -
The Sustainable Growth Rate Formula and Health Reform
April 21, 2010
Some critics of the new health reform law contend that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimate understates the law’s true cost because the law doesn’t fix Medicare’s flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment formula for physicians. Since Congress is certain to enact a fix, these critics contend, its cost … -
New Citizenship Documentation Option for Medicaid and Chip Is Up and Running
April 20, 2010
A key provision of the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) is helping to reduce the detrimental effects of a Medicaid citizenship documentation requirement enacted in 2006 that has caused many eligible citizen children, pregnant women, and parents to lose or be denied health coverage. The CHIPRA provision gives … -
Media Briefing: Debunking Claims That Health Reform Will Not Reduce the Deficit
March 29, 2010
Robert Greenstein, and former senior Congressional Budget Office (CBO) officials James Horney and Paul Van de Water, discuss claims that the health reform legislation will not reduce the deficit because of gimmicks in it – despite an official CBO estimate to the contrary. Robert Reischauer, former CBO Director and now President of the Urban Institute, also joins the briefing.
Duration: 20:42
-
Health Reform Will Reduce the Deficit
March 25, 2010
Despite an official estimate by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to the contrary, some critics of the new health reform legislation — such as Rep. Paul Ryan and former CBO director and McCain campaign adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin — charge that it will not reduce federal budget deficits because it relies on budgetary gimmicks … -
Media Briefing: The Ryan Budget’s Radical Priorities
March 10, 2010
Robert Greenstein and Paul Van de Water discuss the radical priorities in Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget proposal in a media call on March 10, 2010.
Duration: 21:34
-
Changes in Medicare Tax on High-Income People Represent Sound Additions to Health Reform
March 4, 2010
The President’s health reform plan would raise the Medicare tax rate for single filers with incomes over $200,000 and married filers with incomes over $250,000 — a provision that was included in the Senate-passed health bill — and also would extend this tax to the unearned income these affluent households receive such as income from capital gains, … -
Statement: Robert Greenstein, Executive Director, on the President's Health Reform Proposal
February 23, 2010
The President’s proposal represents the last hope, perhaps for years to come, to enact comprehensive reforms that extend coverage to over 30 million uninsured Americans, provide important consumer protections to tens of millions of insured Americans whose coverage may have critical gaps, … -
Health Reform Essential for Reducing Deficit and Slowing Health Care Costs
February 3, 2010
Because rising health care costs represent the single largest cause of the federal government’s long-term budget problems, fundamental health reform must be part of any budget solution.[1] President Obama observed at a recent town hall meeting: “If you are serious about reducing our deficit and debt you cannot accomplish it without reforming …




