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This issue brief compares President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden on their records, actions and proposals related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes a general overview of their respective approaches, followed by a detailed side-by-side.
To provide context for the release of the administration’s first, full budget request for FY 2022, this brief provides an overview of historical trends in U.S. global health funding, including changes in program-specific funding over time, the distribution between bilateral and multilateral support, and in the increasing use of emergency supplemental funding in response to outbreaks.
As the Build Back Better Act shifts from the House to the Senate, there’s considerable interest in provisions that would lower the cost of prescription drugs.
In response to prescription drug spending growth and heightened attention to drug prices, some policymakers have proposed allowing the federal government to negotiate the price of prescription drugs for Medicare and private payers. This brief describes the current status of drug price negotiation proposals, looks back at the history of proposals to give the federal government the authority to negotiate drug prices in Medicare, describes the negotiation provisions in key legislation (H.R. 3), and discusses the potential spending effects for the federal government, beneficiaries, and private payers.
This analysis finds that Medicare spending for Medicare Advantage enrollees was $321 higher per person in 2019 than if enrollees had instead been coverage by traditional Medicare, leading to an estimated $7 billion in additional spending in 2019. It also examines the implications of expected growth in Medicare Advantage enrollment and payments per enrollee from 2021 to 2029.
As some policymakers in Washington are pushing to reduce the federal deficit and debt, this brief provides a concise explanation of federal spending for domestic and global health programs and services, which could be part of any conversation about curbing federal spending. These FAQs answer basic questions about health spending and the federal budget and budget enforcement tools, including the debt limit and sequestration.
This Visualizing Health Policy infographic, produced in partnership with the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), provides a snapshot of Medicare and end-of-life care
The House Republican Plan (“A Better Way”) released on June 22, 2016, includes a proposal to convert federal Medicaid financing from an open-ended entitlement to a per capita allotment or a block grant (based on a state choice). This proposal is part of a larger package designed to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and reduce federal spending for health care. Often tied to deficit reduction, proposals to convert Medicaid’s financing structure to a per capita cap or block grant have been proposed before. Such changes represent a fundamental change in the financing structure of the program with major implications for beneficiaries, providers, states and localities. Key things to understand about a per capita cap include the following: how a per capita cap works, key design challenges, and implications of a per capita cap.
On Wednesday, September 7, from noon to 1 p.m. ET, the Kaiser Family Foundation hosted a web conversation to discuss trends in Medicare prescription drug spending, as well as proposals to reduce costs and forecasts of what beneficiaries can expect in coming years.
This brief provides an overview of the implementing organizations that received U.S. global health funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in FY 2015.
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