Congressional Budget Office (CBO) news and information

Falling closely in line with the Obama administration's analysis last month, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the policies in President Barack Obama's fiscal 2014 budget proposal would reduce Medicare spending by about $364 billion over 10 years, compared with the...
FULL STORY »

Congressional Budget Office analysts sharply lowered their projections for the next decade's outlays on Medicare, Medicaid and covering the uninsured under the healthcare reform law.
FULL STORY »

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius again assured federal lawmakers that the health insurance exchanges will be ready for enrollment this fall, and also said her department does not have a contingency plan in place if HHS doesn't achieve that goal.
FULL STORY »

Legislation that provides a permanent fix to Medicare's controversial sustainable growth-rate formula used in calculating physician reimbursement could be introduced in the Senate this year, according to a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
FULL STORY »

What goes down, sometimes also comes back up. And that worries Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), a physician representing the northwest suburbs of Dallas who co-chairs the Congressional Health Caucus and is vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's health subcommittee.
FULL STORY »

Medical groups need to tell their stories on how federal regulations are affecting their operations and it would be helpful if the physicians in those groups contributed financially to lobbying efforts, according to speakers at the American Medical Group Association annual conference, which ended...
FULL STORY »

Joe Carlson's interview with outgoing Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz (“Championing consumers,”) repeated one of the chairman's favorite catchphrases, “pay-for-delay,” in the...
FULL STORY »

Momentum is building among House leaders to draft and introduce legislation this year that would repeal Medicare's troublesome sustainable growth-rate formula used to pay physicians, but upcoming budget battles could thwart those efforts.
FULL STORY »

Momentum is building among House leaders to draft and introduce legislation this year that would repeal Medicare's troublesome sustainable growth-rate formula used to pay physicians, but upcoming budget battles could thwart those efforts.
FULL STORY »

Federal healthcare spending on Medicare and Medicaid will grow slower than previously believed over the next decade, making it a lot cheaper to restore physician pay to current levels.
FULL STORY »