Description:
As reported by the Senate Committee on Finance on January 16, 2014
S. 1871 would replace the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula, which determines the annual updates to Medicare’s payment rates for physician services, with new systems for establishing those payment rates; extend a number of health care and human services programs and provisions that would otherwise expire; and make other modifications to Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and several human services programs.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 1871 would increase direct spending by $150.4 billion over the 2014-2023 period. (The legislation would not affect federal revenues). Pay-as-you-go procedures apply to this legislation because it would affect direct spending.
In addition, implementing the bill would affect spending subject to appropriation, but CBO has not estimated all of those potential discretionary effects. S. 1871 would authorize specified funding levels for certain activities within the Department of Health and Human Services. Together, those specified authorizations would result in outlays of less than $0.1 billion over the 2014-2023 period, assuming the appropriation of the authorized amounts.
The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
