Spending for Medicare's prescription drug program (Part D) was $50 billion in 2013—about 50 percent less than CBO projected when the program was created. Lower growth rates in national drug spending and lower-than-expected enrollment primarily account for the difference. The competitive design...

CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation have lowered their estimates of the net federal cost of the ACA’s insurance coverage provisions. As reflected in CBO’s April 2014 baseline, the agencies now project a cost of $36 billion for 2014, $5 billion less than the projection made...

Observers often cite fraud as an important contributor to high health care spending, particularly in federal programs. This report describes how CBO estimates the budgetary effects of legislative proposals to reduce fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program...

Legislation enacted in 2014 calls for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to expand the availability of health care to eligible veterans. The structure of VHA and published studies suggest that VHA care has been less expensive than care provided by the private sector. However, limited...