Health Care
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CBO periodically publishes a reference volume, often referred to as “Budget Options,” that includes dozens of policy options to reduce federal budget deficits. Those options are derived from a broad spectrum of sources and represent a range of ways to reduce spending or increase revenues. The options are illustrative, and CBO’s reports do not make recommendations. CBO also prepares analytic reports that examine specific federal programs, aspects of the tax code, and budgetary and economic challenges. Most of these reports present a set of options for changes in the programs or tax rules being examined. A list of some recent reports with options related to this topic is below. Visit CBO’s Reports with Policy Options page for a list of all recent reports with policy options.
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Social Security Policy Options, 2015
December 15, 2015CBO analyzes 36 policy options commonly proposed by policymakers and analysts. Most of them would improve Social Security’s long-term finances, but only a few would significantly postpone the combined trust funds’ exhaustion date.
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Budgetary and Economic Effects of Repealing the Affordable Care Act
June 19, 2015CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that, over the next decade, a repeal of the Affordable Care Act would probably increase budget deficits with or without considering the effects of macroeconomic feedback.
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Approaches to Reducing Federal Spending on Military Health Care
January 16, 2014Between 2000 and 2012, the cost of providing health care to service members, retirees, and their families increased by 130 percent (after adjusting for inflation). What approaches might curtail the growth in those costs?
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Health-Related Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2014 to 2023
December 5, 2013This document is a reprint of Chapter 5 of CBO’s publication Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2014 to 2023 (November 2013).
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Raising the Age of Eligibility for Medicare to 67: An Updated Estimate of the Budgetary Effects
October 24, 2013CBO’s new estimate of the net budgetary savings from adopting this policy is much lower than its earlier estimates for proposals to raise Medicare’s eligibility age. This report describes CBO’s new estimate and the reasons for the change.
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A Premium Support System for Medicare: Analysis of Illustrative Options
September 18, 2013CBO analyzes the ways two illustrative options for a premium support system for Medicare would affect federal spending and beneficiaries’ choices and payments.
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Testimony on Using the Chained CPI to Index Social Security, Other Federal Programs, and the Tax Code for Inflation
April 18, 2013How does the chained consumer price index (CPI) differ from the traditional CPI and what would be the budgetary effects of using the chained CPI to make automatic adjustments in Social Security, other federal programs, and the tax code?
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Costs of Military Pay and Benefits in the Defense Budget
November 14, 2012For fiscal year 2013, the Department of Defense (DoD) requested about $150 billion to fund the pay and benefits of current and retired members of the military. That amount is more than one-quarter of DoD’s total base budget request.
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Raising the Excise Tax on Cigarettes: Effects on Health and the Federal Budget
June 13, 2012CBO 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.
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Raising the Ages of Eligibility for Medicare and Social Security
January 10, 2012Raising the ages at which people can collect Medicare and Social Security would reduce federal spending and increase federal revenues by inducing some people to work longer.