Health Care

CBO estimates the budgetary effects of an illustrative policy that would authorize Medicare to cover anti-obesity medications. The policy would apply to all beneficiaries with obesity and some beneficiaries who are classified as overweight.

CBO discusses prescription drug prices and approaches aimed at reducing those prices. Some of the approaches would cap prices or limit their growth, and other approaches would promote price competition or affect the flow of information.

CBO published updated baseline projections of health insurance coverage and federal subsidies for it. The projections are described in an article published in the journal "Health Affairs" and a presentation on CBO’s website.

CBO is looking for new research on the effectiveness of efforts to increase hepatitis C treatment, the costs of such treatment with direct-acting antiviral medications, and the costs of treating complications if the disease is untreated.

CBO describes its initial analysis of the potential federal budgetary effects of policies that would increase treatment of hepatitis C, focusing on two sample national policies that would increase treatment rates among Medicaid enrollees.

To enhance its work for the Congress, CBO is looking for new research on factors that affect the use of anti-obesity medications and the impact of that use on other health care spending.

CBO estimates that the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation’s (CMMI’s) activities increased federal spending between 2011 and 2020 and will also increase it from 2021 to 2030. In 2010, CBO projected that CMMI would produce savings.

In 2023, federal subsidies for health insurance are estimated to be $1.8 trillion, or 7.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). In CBO and JCT’s projections, those net subsidies reach $3.3 trillion, or 8.3 percent of GDP, in 2033.

CBO released updated projections of health insurance coverage for people under age 65 in the journal Health Affairs.

CBO estimates the budgetary effects of options for expanding federal Medicaid payments to states for services provided to Medicaid enrollees ages 21 to 64 who are in inpatient facilities known as institutions for mental diseases.

CBO issues a volume describing 17 policy options that would each reduce the federal budget deficit by more than $300 billion over the next 10 years or, in the case of Social Security options, have a comparably large effect in later decades.

CBO issues a volume that contains short descriptions of 59 policy options that would each reduce the federal budget deficit by less than $300 billion over the next 10 years.

CBO identified policy approaches that federal lawmakers could adopt to reduce the prices that commercial insurers pay for hospitals’ and physicians’ services, thereby lowering health insurance premiums and the cost of federal subsidies.

In CBO and JCT’s projections, net federal subsidies in 2022 for insured people under age 65 are $997 billion. In 2032, that annual amount is projected to reach $1.6 trillion.

CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that lowering the age of Medicare eligibility to 60 would increase federal budget deficits, change primary sources of health insurance, and increase the number of people insured.

CBO examined potential reasons that the prices paid by commercial health insurers for hospitals’ and physicians’ services are higher, rise more quickly, and vary more by area than the prices paid by the Medicare fee-for-service program.

CBO examines trends in nationwide spending on prescription drugs over the 1980–2018 period. CBO also provides a detailed analysis of trends in spending, use, and prices in the Medicare Part D and Medicaid programs over the 2009–2018 period.

CBO describes the key design considerations for a federally administered nongroup health insurance plan—often referred to as a public option—and some of their major implications.

CBO describes how the prices of brand-name prescription drugs are determined in different federal programs and compares drug prices among those programs in 2017.

CBO describes the methods it has developed to analyze the federal budgetary costs of proposals for single-payer health care systems that are based on the Medicare fee-for-service program.