Federal Budget

Few issues are likely to matter as much to voters in November’s presidential election as President Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis, which have left almost 200,000 Americans dead and prompted job layoffs and furloughs affecting tens of millions of Americans. A new election brief compares…

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.

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.

This data note examines the status of U.S. global COVID-19 country, regional, and worldwide funding to assess how much has been committed to date and where it has been directed.

Provides a summary of health provisions in the fourth major legislative initiative to address COVID-19, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act.

The federal government spent $321 more per person for beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans than for those in traditional Medicare in 2019, a gap that amounted to $7 billion in additional spending on the increasingly popular private plans that year, finds a new KFF analysis. The Medicare Advantage spending…

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.

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.

On May 28th, President Biden will release his first detailed budget proposal, covering the fiscal year starting in October 2021. As the largest global health donor in the world, the new budget proposal will provide a glimpse into what the Biden administration will be prioritizing for global health. In preparation…

In response to higher drug spending growth and heightened attention to drug prices, policymakers have proposed a variety of policy initiatives to lower the cost of prescription drugs in Medicare. This brief examines in detail the range of proposals offered by the Trump Administration and members of Congress for lowering the cost of prescription drugs, their known effects on the federal budget, and their potential implications for beneficiaries and other stakeholders.