Spending and revenues will have to grow significantly as a share of the economy in coming years just to enable the federal government to continue carrying out existing functions that the public widely supports, our new analysis concludes. As policymakers...
off the charts
POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
House Should Reject Cuts to CBO
July 26, 2017
Two proposed amendments to the House legislative branch appropriation bill would cut funding and staffing for the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) by as much as 50 percent. House members should reject these amendments, offered by Representatives Scott Perry and...
House Budget Cuts, Restructures Medicare
July 21, 2017
The 2018 budget resolution that the House Budget Committee approved this week would end Medicare’s guarantee of health coverage by converting the program to a premium support system. Overall, it would cut Medicare spending by $487 billion over the 2018-27 period, largely by shifting more health care costs to beneficiaries. President Trump’s budget, by contrast, would spare Medicare from cuts...
Trump Budget May Break Promise to Protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
May 18, 2017
Early word about President Trump’s 2018 budget — which the White House plans to release on May 23 — suggests it will likely break his promise not to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
“I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid,”...
House-Passed Health Plan Would Speed Medicare Trust Fund’s Depletion by Two Years
May 9, 2017
Update, May 10: Based on additional information, we have revised the estimated depletion date of the Hospital Insurance trust fund to 2026, from 2025.
The House-passed bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would move up the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund’s depletion from 2028 to 2026, we estimate (see graph), and increase HI’s 75-year deficit by more...
Providing an Explicit Appropriation for Cost-Sharing Reductions Wouldn’t Require a Budgetary Offset
April 19, 2017
Recent statements by President Trump and an ongoing lawsuit have left health insurers uncertain whether they will continue to receive billions of dollars they’re owed in cost-sharing reduction payments. Congress could resolve this uncertainty by clarifying the law and providing an...
House Republican Health Plan Would Increase Premiums
March 24, 2017
Speaker Paul Ryan says the House Republican health bill would lower premiums by 10 percent, but that’s highly misleading. It doesn’t mean that the price of your insurance plan would be lower, as Ryan implies. In fact, people who wanted to keep the insurance plan that they have would face premium...
House GOP Health Plan Would Accelerate Depletion of Medicare Trust Fund by Four Years
March 20, 2017
The House bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would move up the Medicare’s Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund’s depletion from 2028 to 2024 (see graph). Repealing a payroll tax on high earners would advance the depletion date by three years, as we previously...
House Republican Health Plan Would Weaken Medicare
March 14, 2017
The House bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) wouldn’t just cause 24 million people to become uninsured, as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports; it also would weaken Medicare by repealing a payroll tax on high earners that supports Medicare’s Hospital Insurance...
Projected Health Spending Falling — Even with ACA’s Coverage Expansions
February 13, 2017
In its latest projections, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) continues to estimate that federal health spending — including the costs of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which has enabled 20 million Americans to get coverage — will be less than what it had projected in 2010 without the ACA....
