The September 11th attack and subsequent intentional release of anthrax spores via the U.S. postal system have focused policymakers’ attention on the preparedness and response capability of the nation’s public health system. The anthrax attacks put a tremendous strain on the U. S. public health infrastructure, an infrastructure that many experts argue has been weakened by years of neglect and under-funding. To better understand the preparedness gaps that exist, as well as the disparate functions and agencies that define public health in this country, the Congressional Research Service (CRS), in conjunction with George Washington University’s National Health Policy Forum (NHPF), convened a seminar on October 26, 2001, entitled, The U.S. Health Care System: Are State and Local Officials Prepared for Bioterrorism? How Should the Federal Government Assist?
The purpose of this report is to explain why many of those who are least able to afford high drug costs are those who are most frequently charged the most. This report describes the basic economic theory underlying price differentiation and, in the context of the pharmaceutical market, analyzes the role and behavior of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), pharmaceutical manufacturers, and retail pharmacies, respectively. It also looks at a number of the criticisms that have been made of the practice of differential pricing. Finally, this report discusses various policy approaches aimed at assisting the elderly to purchase prescription drugs.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA, P.L. 93-406) places the regulation of employee benefit plans (including health plans) primarily under federal jurisdiction for about 124 million people. ERISA’s treatment of health plans is both complicated and confusing. ERISA has been interpreted as dividing health plans into two groups regulated differently under the law: about 54 million people are covered by self-insured plans for which the employer, rather than an insurer, assumes the risk for paying for covered services and about 70 million people are covered by purchased insurance (according to 2000 information from the Census Bureau and the Department of Labor).
The 2001 annual reports of the board of trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds were released on March 19, 2001. Both programs have benefitted from an improved economic outlook in the near term, but both continue to have projected long-range problems. Insolvency for the Disability Insurance (DI) part of Social Security is projected to occur in 2026, and for the retirement and survivors part, in 2040.
This report discusses Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The report also discusses other major health provisions provisions of H.R. 5661 are incorporated, by reference into H.R. 4577, the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2001.
Medicare, the nationwide health insurance program for the aged and disabled, does not cover most outpatient prescription drugs. On several occasions, the Congress has considered providing coverage for at least a portion of beneficiaries’ drug costs. The issue received renewed attention in the 106th Congress. However, there was no consensus on how the coverage should be structured. This report provides a side-by-side comparison of bills introduced in the 107th Congress that have received the most attention.
With the onset of burgeoning federal budget surpluses, Social Security and Medicare's treatment in the budget has become a major policy issue. Congressional views about what to do with the surpluses are diverse -- ranging from "buying down" the federal government's outstanding debt to cutting taxes to increasing spending.
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