Federal Budget

Introduction Health spending has been growing at historically low levels in recent years. The Office of the Actuary (OACT) in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports that national health spending grew by 3.9% each year from 2009 to 2011, the lowest rate of growth since the federal government began keeping…

Drew Altman, President and CEO of the Foundation, and Larry Levitt, Senior Vice President, co-authored a Washington Post op-ed that examined how the economy affects the nation’s health spending.  It concludes that the record slow growth rate of recent years stems largely from economic factors beyond the health system, with the…

The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program is a more than two-decade old federal effort that provides care and services to more than half a million people with and affected by HIV each year. With its current authorization set to expire in September, policymakers are weighing the program’s future at a time…

To mark the 20th anniversary of the passage of landmark federal legislation to improve the quality of nursing home care, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 (known as OBRA 87), this video examines the history surrounding the law. The video includes a look at the state of nursing home…

This brief provides a side-by-side comparison of Medicare provisions included in broad-based packages to reduce the deficit and debt put forward by the President and the Chairmen of the House and Senate Budget Committees. In addition, this brief summarizes Medicare provisions included in other deficit- and debt- reduction proposals released since January 2012 and describes recent activities that pertain to Medicare and the federal budget, including Medicare’s role in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the fiscal cliff and sequestration.

This brief examines the latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projections for federal Medicaid and CHIP spending over the 2014-2024 period. CBO’s budget projections, also known as “baseline” projections, reflect CBO’s best judgment about how the economy and other factors will affect federal revenues and spending under existing laws. The brief also examines CBO estimates of the coverage effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on Medicaid and CHIP enrollment and spending. Understanding the CBO baseline estimates is important because they are the basis to evaluate the federal cost and coverage implications of proposed federal policy changes.

Several major deficit-reduction plans include provisions that would impose an explicit limit on the growth in Medicare spending. In general, such limits would trigger cuts if Medicare spending grows more rapidly than a target, such as the growth in the economy. This brief prepared for the Kaiser Family Foundation describes…

This summary of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act highlights and summarizes health-related provisions focused on the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States and support for the global response.

A summary of key provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act that addresses the domestic coronavirus outbreak, including paid sick leave, insurance coverage of coronavirus testing, nutrition assistance, and unemployment benefits.