CBO Releases Monthly Budget Review
Aug 7, 2008 by Adam Hughes*
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their monthly budget review this morning. CBO Director Peter Orszag blogged on the release of the review on the CBO Director's Blog:
read in fullSwing and a Miss on Canceling SCHIP Cuts
Jul 25, 2008 by Craig Jennings
The Senate missed an opportunity this week to beat back a Bush administration policy that will keep low-income kids from receiving government insurance.
read in fullDrug Manufacturers See $3.7 Billion Medicare Windfall
Jul 25, 2008 by Craig Jennings
The law that created the Medicare drug benefit, or Medicare Part D, mandates that Medicaid beneficiaries who were also eligible for Medicare ("dual eligibles") receive their drug coverage from the Medicare drug program rather than Medicaid. So, rather than be allowed dual eligibles to choose between two programs, when the new Medicare law went into effect, it shifted Medicare-eligible Medicaid beneficiaries into the new program.
read in fullAmerica Continues to Drown in Debt
Jul 23, 2008 by Adam Hughes*
Those wacky legislators in Congress are at it again. Democrats have added language to once again increase the national debt ceiling, or debt limit, which is the maximum amount of debt the federal government can issue. Democrats added language to a housing relief bill increasing the limit by another $800 billion to an astounding $10.615 trillion (that's trillion with a "t").
read in fullState Budget Problems Cause Economic Hardship
Jul 11, 2008 by Craig Jennings
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has once again released an analysis of state government budget health, and the news continues to deteriorate. In their lastest analysis, they rank all 50 states according to changes in three main economic indicators - employment, poverty, and housing foreclosures. The report finds:
read in fullCompetiting Claims on Our Fiscal Future
Jul 11, 2008 by Adam Hughes*
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has released a report from leading economists and budget experts criticing a recent paper from the Brookings Institute and the Heritage Foundation called "Taking Back Our Fiscal Future." From the CBPP
read in fullBudgetBlog on Hiatus for Holiday: Happy Fourth Everyone!
Jun 27, 2008 by Adam Hughes*
Happy Fourth of July!
Just wanted to let our loyal BudgetBlog readers know we're going on a short hiatus next week. With Congress heading out of town for a short summer recess and the upcoming Fourth of July holiday next week, the Fiscal Policy team is heading out of town in order to escape the heat for some well-deserved vacation. This means, though, that the BudgetBlog will be dormant next week.
GAO Report Finds Private Medicare Providers Prefer Profits Over Providing Better Service
Jun 26, 2008 by Craig Jennings
A recently released GAO report finds that (surprise!) Medicare Advantage providers predicted lower profit margins in 2005 than actually materialized.
read in fullEverybody Needs to Pay Their Taxes...Everybody!
Jun 24, 2008 by Adam Hughes*
Our friends over at the Government Accountability Office released another great report a week or two ago concerning how Medicare providers (hospitals, nursing homes, and doctors) are failing to pay federal taxes to the tune of at least $2 billion a year. Findings from the report:
read in fullSocial Security Can Wait. Really.
Jun 23, 2008 by Craig Jennings
A "Brookings Alert" in my inbox this morning directs me to an op-ed by Brookings Senior Fellow Alice M. Rivlin and U. Mich Prof. John W. Kingdon entitled "Next President and Congress: Tackle Social Security First." Oy.
I'm going to outsource this one to Shawn Fremstad over at Inclusion.
read in full
