Congressional Research Service Reports - 33 Matching Results

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Medicare: FY2007 Budget Issues

Description: This report discusses President's budget request to Congress for Medicare, for the following federal fiscal year, along with projections for the five-year budget window. The President’s 2007 budget includes Medicare legislative proposals for Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) spending with estimated savings of $2.5 billion in 2007 and $35.9 billion over the five-year budget window.
Date: March 31, 2006
Creator: Chaikind, Hinda; Morgan, Paulette C.; O'Shaughnessy, Carol; O'Sullivan, Jennifer; Stone, Julie & Tilson, Sibyl
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Medicare Advantage

Description: This report is an overview of the Medicare Advantage (MA) program, an alternative way for Medicare beneficiaries to receive covered benefits, and includes legislative history and analysis of recent trends.
Date: March 3, 2009
Creator: Morgan, Paulette C.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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How Medicaid Works - Program Basics

Description: Medicaid is a means-tested entitlement program that has been in existence for over 35 years. It provides primary and acute care as well as long-term care to over 50 million Americans at a cost to federal and state governments of approximately $276.1 billion in FY2003. Of all federally supported social programs, only Medicare comes close to this level of spending, and only Social Security costs more.
Date: March 16, 2005
Creator: Herz, Elicia J.; Hearne, Jean P.; Stone-Axelrad, Julie; Tritz, Karen; Baumrucker, Evelyne P.; Scott, Christine et al.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, P.L. 111-5): Title V, Medicaid Provisions

Description: In addition to reducing some taxes and funding infrastructure projects, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provisions were designed to provide: temporary support to families and individuals by increasing unemployment compensation benefits; financial assistance for individuals to maintain their health coverage under provisions in the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA); temporary increases in Medicaid matching rates; and increases in disproportionate… more
Date: March 17, 2009
Creator: Binder, Cliff; Baumrucker, Evelyne P.; Grady, April & Herz, Elicia J.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Health Insurance Premium Assistance for the Unemployed: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Description: This report discusses employer-sponsored health insurance coverage and barriers to accessing health insurance for the unemployed; provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) with respect to unemployment and health insurance; and potential impact of ARRA provisions on the unemployed.
Date: March 6, 2009
Creator: Mulvey, Janemarie; Chaikind, Hinda & Fernandez, Bernadette
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Health Insurance Coverage for Retirees

Description: 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 … more
Date: March 28, 2006
Creator: Chaikind, Hinda
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Medicare's Hospice Benefit

Description: This report discusses Medicare's hospice benefit, which was provides care that specializes in the relief of the pain and symptoms associated with a terminal illness and the provision of supportive and counseling services to patients and their families during the final stages of a patient's illness and death.
Date: March 9, 2009
Creator: Stone, Julie
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Prescription Drug Coverage Under Medicaid

Description: Medicaid is a joint federal-state entitlement program that pays for medical services on behalf of certain groups of low-income persons. It is the third largest social program in the federal budget, exceeded only by Social Security and Medicare and is typically the second largest spending item for states. This report discusses prescription drug policies under the program.
Date: March 12, 2004
Creator: Hearne, Jean & Grady, April
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Medicare Primer

Description: This report provides an overview of Medicare, the nation's federal insurance program, which pays for covered health care services of qualified beneficiaries.
Date: March 10, 2009
Creator: Chaikind, Hinda; Tilson, Sibyl; Morgan, Paulette C.; Hahn, Jim; Stockdale, Holly; Davis, Patricia A. et al.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Financial Outlook for Social Security and Medicare

Description: 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.
Date: March 19, 2001
Creator: Koitz, David Stuart & Kollmann, Geoffrey
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP): A Brief Overview

Description: This report discusses the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which allows states to cover targeted low-income children with no health insurance in families with income above Medicaid eligibility levels.
Date: March 18, 2009
Creator: Herz, Elicia J.; Peterson, Chris L. & Baumrucker, Evelyne P.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Beneficiary Information and Decision Supports for the Medicare-Endorsed Prescription Drug Discount Card

Description: On December 8, 2003 the President signed into law the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA, P.L. 108-173). This legislation establishes a Medicare prescription drug benefit, effective January 1, 2006. In the interim, the legislation requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a temporary program of Medicare-endorsed prescription drug discount cards. This report discusses the objectives and benefits of this legislation.
Date: March 24, 2005
Creator: Justice, Diane
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security and Medicare "Lock Boxes"

Description: 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.
Date: March 21, 2001
Creator: Koitz, David Stuart; Kollmann, Geoffrey & Nuschler, Dawn
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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ERISA Regulation of Health Plans: Fact Sheet

Description: 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, assume… more
Date: March 6, 2003
Creator: Chaikind, Hinda Ripps
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Recent Developments in Medicare Affecting Long-Term Care Hospitals

Description: Medicare pays about $36 billion annually for post-acute care in four separate settings: long-term care hospitals (LTCHs), inpatient rehabilitation settings (IRFs), skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and in the home. This report provides background information on several operational issues affecting LTCHs that are currently attracting attention from Congress, specifically efforts to develop a patient assessment tool, to develop qualification criteria that should be imposed on LTCHs, and to chang… more
Date: March 14, 2006
Creator: Tilson, Sibyl
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Bioterrorism: Summary of a CRS/National Health Policy Forum Seminar on Federal, State, and Local Public Health Preparedness

Description: 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 function… more
Date: March 8, 2002
Creator: Strongin, Robin J. & Redhead, C. Stephen
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Bioterrorism: Legislation to Improve Public Health Preparedness and Response Capacity

Description: This report shows that while lawmakers work towards final passage of new authorizing legislation, Congress has appropriated more than $3 billion to the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) to increase bioterrorism preparedness at the federal, state, and local levels. HHS anti-bioterrorism funding was included in the FY2002 Labor-HHSEducation appropriations bill and in the $20 billion emergency spending package that was attached to the FY2002 Defense appropriations bill. Until the new author… more
Date: March 8, 2002
Creator: Redhead, C. Stephen; Vogt, Donna U. & Tiemann, Mary
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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