Public Health and Prevention

CBO analyzes the budgetary effects and other effects of federal policies that promote better health, the prevention of disease, and emergency preparedness and response.

Report
The 2017 Long-Term Budget Outlook
March 30, 2017
If current laws remained generally unchanged, the United States would face steadily increasing federal budget deficits and debt over the next 30 years—reaching the highest level of debt relative to GDP ever experienced in this country.
Blog Post
Estimating the Effects of Federal Policies Targeting Obesity: Challenges and Research Needs
October 26, 2015
CBO concludes that existing evidence does not indicate that certain policies to treat obesity would significantly reduce federal spending. Additional well-designed studies on the effects of such policies would be useful for CBO's analysis.
Blog Post
CBO’s Analysis of the Budgetary Impact of Policies That Could Improve People’s Health
December 3, 2013
Given the high degree of interest in the relationship between people’s health and the federal budget, this post recaps some highlights from CBO’s report titled Raising the Excise Tax on Cigarettes: Effects on Health and the Federal Budget.
Report
Raising the Excise Tax on Cigarettes: Effects on Health and the Federal Budget
June 13, 2012
CBO has analyzed the impact of a hypothetical increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes to demonstrate the complex links between policies that aim to improve health and effects on the federal budget.