Congressional Research Service Reports - 556 Matching Results
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- Hospital Reimbursement
- This report discusses the process of hospital reimbursement by health insurers and regulations governing the process.
- How Medicare Pays for Doctor's Services
- This report discusses the method used to pay doctor's through Medicare.
- Medicaid Financial Eligibility for Long-Term Services and Supports
- This report provides an overview of the financial requirements used for determining eligibility for Medicaid long-term services and supports (LTSS). It first provides background information on the Medicaid program, including general eligibility requirements. Then it describes federal statutes as well as selected regulations and guidance regarding these financial eligibility requirements, including rules related to spousal impoverishment, asset transfers, treatment of certain assets, post-eligibility treatment of income, and estate recovery.
- Legislative Actions in the 112th, 113th, and 114th Congresses to Repeal, Defund, or Delay the Affordable Care Act
- This report a brief overview of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and discusses the legislative process known as budget reconciliation in an effort to repeal parts of the ACA.
- The Proposed Health Maintenance Organization Assistance Act of 1971
- This report provides a summary and description of each section of the proposed Health Maintenance Organization Assistance Act of 1971.
- The Japanese Health Care System
- This report provides (1) a description of the coverage, benefits, financing and administration of the Japanese health insurance plans; (2) a discussion of the way in which reimbursement levels for health care providers are determined; and (3) an analysis of the way in which the provision of health care system is organized in Japan.
- Public Health and Emergency Preparedness: CRS Experts
- This table provides access to names and contact information for CRS experts on policy concerns relating to public health and emergency preparedness.
- Congress Faces Calls to Address Expiring ACA Appropriations
- This report discusses the Affordable Care Act (ACA), enacted in March 2010, which appropriated billions of dollars of mandatory funds to support grant programs and other activities authorized by the law.
- Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB): Emerging Public Health Threats and Quarantine and Isolation
- This report the international saga of Andrew Speaker, a traveler thought to have XDR-TB, a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, placed a spotlight on existing mechanisms to contain contagious disease threats and raised numerous legal and public health issues. It also discusses the application of various public health measures available to contain an emerging public health threat posed by an individual who ignores medical advice and attempts to board an airplane or take other forms of public transportation.
- Medicare Beneficiary Access to Care: The Effects of New Prospective Payment Systems on Outpatient Hospital Care, Home Health Care, and Skilled Nursing Facility Care
- This report discusses the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA 97), which required that prospective payment systems replace retrospective cost-based reimbursement systems for Medicare beneficiaries receiving care in hospital outpatient departments, from home health care agencies, and in skilled nursing facilities.
- Health Insurance: Federal Data Sources for Analyses of the Uninsured
- Given the various reasons individuals lack health insurance coverage, analysis of the effectiveness of a proposal to reduce the number of uninsured (such as those discussed above) requires examining characteristics of individuals with and without health insurance coverage. Numerous sources of data have emerged over time that support estimates of the uninsured. However, each data source differs in how it collects information from individuals, as well as the amount of information it collects related to health insurance status. This report outlines the major advantages and limitations of four federally administered surveys — in providing estimates of the uninsured population.
- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS): Public Health Situation and U.S. Response
- No Description Available.
- The Affordable Care Act and Small Business: Economic Issues
- This report explains how employer-sponsored insurance can be used to address concerns about health insurance coverage and cost. Then, it summarizes the three ACA provisions most relevant to small businesses. Also, it analyzes these provisions for their potential effects on small businesses. Last, this report presents several approaches that could address some concerns associated with these provisions (particularly the employer penalty).
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Other Mental Health Problems in the Military: Oversight Issues for Congress
- This report discusses the prevalence of different psychological health concerns within the Armed Forces, current mental health screening and treatments, and DOD responses.
- The Affordable Care Act and Small Business: Economic Issues
- This report explains how employer-sponsored insurance can be used to address concerns about health insurance coverage and cost. Then, it summarizes the three ACA provisions most relevant to small businesses. Also, it analyzes these provisions for their potential effects on small businesses. Last, this report presents several approaches that could address some concerns associated with these provisions (particularly the employer penalty).
- Ebola: Democratic Republic of Congo
- This report discusses an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 8, 2018. As of June 10, 2018, WHO reported a total of 55 cases, including 28 deaths.
- Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
- This report summarizes the principal rules governing health savings accounts (HSAs), covering such matters as eligibility, qualifying health insurance, contributions, withdrawals, and tax advantages. It concludes with a discussion of HSA data limitations and recent research findings on high-deductible health plan (HDHP) enrollment and HSA utilization trends.
- U.S. Response to the Global Threat of Malaria: Basic Facts
- This report outlines basic facts related to global malaria, including characteristics of the epidemic and U.S. legislation, programs, funding, and partnerships related to the global response to malaria.
- Medicaid Financing and Expenditures
- This report provides an overview of Medicaid’s financing structure, including both federal and state financing issues. The Medicaid expenditures section of the report discusses economic factors affecting Medicaid, state variability in spending, and projected program spending. Other issues that are examined include congressional proposals to turn Medicaid into a block grant program, federal deficit reduction proposals affecting Medicaid, and state fiscal conditions affecting Medicaid financing and services.
- Requiring Individuals to Obtain Health Insurance: A Constitutional Analysis
- This report first analyzes the authority of Congress to enact the minimum essential coverage requirement contained in Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), as well as how a court might analyze this provision if challenged based on various provisions of the Fifth and Tenth Amendments. This report discusses whether there must be exceptions to a requirement to purchase health insurance based on First Amendment freedom of religion, and finally, discusses some of the legal challenges to this federal requirement.
- Public Health, Workforce, Quality, and Related Provisions in H.R. 3590, as Passed by the Senate
- This report summarizes the workforce, prevention, quality, and related provisions in H.R. 3590, as passed by the Senate. It begins with some background on health care delivery reform, followed by an overview of the report’s content and organization
- Requiring Individuals to Obtain Health Insurance: A Constitutional Analysis
- This report discusses the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), P.L. 111-148, as amended, Congress enacted a “minimum coverage provision,” which compels certain individuals to have a minimum level of health insurance. This report provides an analysis of the constitutionality of this provision requiring individuals to obtain health insurance.
- Health Insurance Coverage for Retirees
- With the retirement of the baby boom generation looming ahead, employers offering coverage to their retired workers will face a huge future financial commitment. Some employers have already reduced or eliminated their commitment to insure their retirees. Recent trends indicate that retiree health benefits are increasingly subject to higher beneficiary cost-sharing. Further, among employers who provide health insurance for current retirees, their current workers are less likely to be guaranteed these benefits upon retirement. This report discusses issues regarding health insurance coverage for retirees.
- Medicaid and SCHIP: The President’s FY2006 Budget Proposals
- This report describes the proposal and provides an estimate of the cost or savings based on publicly available information. The report provides a brief background for the proposal and provides a listing of current Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports related to the proposal.
- Tax Benefits for Health Insurance and Expenses: Overview of Current Law and Legislation
- This report discusses how tax policy affects health insurance and health care spending.
- Medicare Home Health Benefit Primer: Benefit Basics and Issues
- This report describes home health eligibility criteria, home health services, characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries who use home health services, and home health providers. Further, this report describes in detail the Medicare home health prospective payment system (HH PPS), provides an overview of Medicare home health payments, and discusses issues for Congress related to the Medicare home health benefit.
- Medicaid and Graduate Medical Education
- This report discusses Medicaid coverage of graduate medical education (GME) costs. GME costs are difficult to determine because teaching occurs in the context of patient care and research. There are direct GME (DGME) costs, which include residents' stipends, payments to supervising physicians, and direct program administration costs.
- Health Insurance Coverage: Characteristics of the Insured and Uninsured Populations in 2007
- Based on data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS), 45.7 million people in the United States had no health insurance in 2007 — a decrease of approximately 1.3 million people when compared with 2006. This report briefly examines the characteristics of this uninsured population.
- Requiring Individuals to Obtain Health Insurance: A Constitutional Analysis
- This report first analyzes the authority of Congress to pass a law of this nature, as well as how a court could analyze this provision in light of a constitutional challenge based on various provisions of the Fifth and Tenth Amendments. Finally, this report discusses whether the exceptions to the individual responsibility requirement to purchase health insurance satisfy First Amendment freedom of religion protections.
- The Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Employer Shared Responsibility Determination and the Potential Employer Penalty
- This report describes potential employer penalties as well as regulations to implement the ACA employer provisions. The regulations address insurance coverage requirements, methodologies for determining whether a worker is considered full time, provisions relating to seasonal workers and corporate franchises, and other reporting requirements.
- Private Health Insurance Market Reforms in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)
- This report provides background information about the private health insurance market, including market segments and regulation. It then describes each ACA market reform, grouped under the following categories: obtaining coverage, keeping coverage, cost of purchasing coverage, covered services, cost-sharing limits, consumer assistance and other health care protections, and plan requirements related to health care providers.
- Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) Program: Frequently Asked Questions
- This report addresses frequently asked questions regarding the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) program, which was established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and aims to foster the creation of CO-OPs--nonprofit, member-run health insurance issuers that sell health plans in states in which they are licensed.
- Excise Tax on High-Cost Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage: In Brief
- This report provides an overview of the excise tax. The report includes cost estimates for the excise tax and explores the excise tax's relationship with the tax advantages for employer-sponsored health coverage. The information in this report is based on statute and two notices issued by the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
- Medicare Prescription Drug Proposals: Estimates of Aged Beneficiaries Who Fall Below Income Criteria, by State
- This report discusses bills related to Medicare benefits, which include additional assistance for low-income beneficiaries. The assistance would have been in the form of reduced, subsidized or eliminated premiums, deductibles and other cost-sharing. Proposals in the 108th Congress will probably also include some of these features for low-income beneficiaries.
- Medicare: Part B Premiums
- This report provides an overview of Medicare Part B premiums, including information on Part B eligibility and enrollment, late-enrollment penalties, collection of premiums, determination of annual premium amounts, premiums for high-income enrollees, premium assistance for low-income enrollees, protections for Social Security recipients from rising Part B premiums, and historical Medicare Part B premium trends. This report also provides a summary of various premium-related issues that may be of interest to Congress.
- Children's Hospital Graduate Medical Education (CHGME)
- This report describes the Children's Hospital Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) program's purpose and structure, history, and authorizations and appropriations. It also provides select program data, including the number of hospitals supported under the program, their location, the amount of funding they receive, and the number of residents trained. Finally, the report discusses alternative sources of GME funding available and some issues that Congress may consider as part of the program's reauthorization.
- Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA): 2017 Reauthorization as PDUFA VI
- This report discusses the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) and its reauthorization by Congress as PDUFA I.
- The National Health Service Corps
- This report provides an overview of the National Health Service Corps and its role and funding mechanisms.
- Ebola: Selected Legal Issues
- Several West African countries are currently grappling with an unprecedented outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD). Here in the United States, where Ebola is not endemic, a handful of EVD cases have been diagnosed, and domestic transmission of the virus has occurred in only two cases to date. This report provides a brief overview of selected legal issues regarding measures to prevent transmission of Ebola virus and the civil rights of individuals affected by the disease.
- The Affordable Care Act and Small Business: Economic Issues
- This report explains how employer-sponsored insurance can be used to address concerns about health insurance coverage and cost. Then, it summarizes the three Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions most relevant to small businesses. Also, it analyzes these provisions for their potential effects on small businesses. Last, this report presents several approaches that could address some concerns associated with these provisions (particularly the employer penalty).
- Health Coverage Tax Credit
- The report describes the expired eligibility criteria, as well as the types of health insurance to which the tax credit may have been applied. It discusses past federal and state roles in administering the HCTC program, and it summarizes analyses on the credit's effectiveness in reaching targeted populations and related equity and efficiency issues. In addition, the report includes a short discussion of relevant current law and summarizes statutory history of the HCTC program.
- Beverage Industry Pledges to Reduce Americans' Drink Calories
- This report briefly covers recent initiatives by leading beverage companies to curb the obesity epidemic.
- Medicare: Part B Premiums
- This report examines the history of the Medicare Part B Premium. The report considers issues including the changing factors that go into determining the premium. The report also discusses the comparative cost adjustment program, the Part B deductible, and the Part A premium.
- Ebola: Democratic Republic of Congo
- This report discusses an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 8, 2018. As of June 10, 2018, WHO reported a total of 55 cases, including 28 deaths.
- Public Health, Workforce, Quality, and Related Provisions in H.R. 3962
- This report discusses health care reform, which was at the top of the domestic policy agenda for the 111th Congress, driven by concerns about the growing ranks of the uninsured and the unsustainable growth in spending on health care and health insurance.
- Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)
- This report first discusses the cost and financing for long-term care (LTC) services as well as the current market for private LTC insurance. It then details those CLASS program requirements for enrollment, premiums, eligibility, benefits, administration, and oversight. The report also discusses federal budget implications, as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Finally, the report provides a timeline of the CLASS program provisions enacted under PPACA.
- The Use of Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) in Federal Health Programs
- This report explores how modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is defined differently across health programs such as Medicare, the health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and Medicaid. It also discusses why MAGI is used, and how it is applied, specific to each program. The report covers that MAGI is used to determine (1) penalty amounts owed if a person does not comply with the individual mandate or whether an individual is exempt from the individual mandate; (2) eligibility for and the amount of a premium credit to purchase coverage through a health insurance exchange; and (3) Medicaid income eligibility for certain populations.
- The Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC): In Brief
- This report describes the eligibility criteria for the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) and the types of health insurance to which the tax credit may be applied. The tax credit's purpose is to make the purchase of health insurance more affordable for eligible individuals. The HCTC has a sunset date of January 1, 2020. The report also briefly describes the administration of the HCTC program and receipt of the credit by eligible taxpayers; it concludes with a summary of the HCTC's statutory history.
- Requiring Individuals to Obtain Health Insurance: A Constitutional Analysis
- This report first analyzes the authority of Congress to pass a proposal of this nature, as well as how a court could analyze this type of proposal if there were to be a constitutional challenge based on various provisions of the Fifth Amendment. Finally, this report discusses whether there must be exceptions to a requirement to purchase health insurance based on First Amendment freedom of religion.
- Tax Benefits for Health Insurance: Current Legislation
- This report discusses a variety of potential proposals to change the tax benefits for health insurance and medical expenses, including measures that would expand the availability and attractiveness of health savings accounts (HSAs), or employer tax credits.