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Statement of Robert Greenstein on the 2014 Social Security Trustees' Report

"The trustees caution that their projections are uncertain. For example, they estimate an 80 percent probability that trust fund exhaustion would occur between 2029 and 2038 -- and a 95 percent chance that it would happen between 2028 and 2041."

President Misleads on Social Security Rate of Return, Says Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Excerpt: As with any type of insurance, a 'rate of return' is an inappropriate standard for measuring the value that these features of Social Security provide. For example, when one buys automobile or homeowners insurance, one is not looking for a good rate of return, since one's money will be returned only if one has an accident or one's home is vandalized or damaged in a fire or other such event.

Testimony of Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Applauding Cutbacks Under Health Care Reform on FSA, HSAs

"The Affordable Care Act ... includes a number of spending reductions and tax increases designed to assure that expanding health coverage does not drive up the deficit. Some provisions limit the use of tax-advantaged accounts to pay for health-related expenses. These limitations make sense both as tax policy and as health policy, and repealing any of them would be unwise."

Text of Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Testimony on the Fee on Health Insurance

"All things considered, CBO estimates that health reform will slightly reduce premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance in the near term.... Claims that the health insurance tax in particular, or health reform in general, will kill jobs are unfounded. CBO foresees a small net reduction in labor supply, primarily because some people who now work mainly to obtain health insurance will choose to retire earlier or work somewhat less, not because employers will eliminate jobs."

Retirement Outlook and Policy Priorities: How the New President and Congress May Help Increase Retirement Confidence (PDF)

8 pages. Excerpt: The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies has conducted a special edition survey to gauge how retirement confidence has changed over the past year and to find out what Americans think the next President and Congress should focus on to help improve their ability to achieve a financially secure retirement.

The Impact of the President's Proposal on Social Security Solvency and the Budget

Excerpt: [T]he White House has not released the traditional analysis by the Social Security actuaries of the effect of its plan on Social Security solvency. It is standard practice for policymakers and outside analysts who present Social Security plans to provide the actuaries' analysis when, or shortly after, they release their plans. In the absence of [that] analysis ..., this analysis provides some of the standard actuarial and fiscal estimates of the President's proposal.

Unifying the District of Columbia's Health Insurance Marketplace

"The Exchange holds the promise of enabling small employers to offer employees a number of plan options, which would increase choice for both employers and their workers. 'Combining the new exchange and existing health insurance markets into a larger, single market would make it far likelier that the DC Exchange achieves this critical goal' [said Robert Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]."

Key KFF Resources on the Health Related Proposals of the President's FY2006 Budget

Excerpt: The Kaiser Family Foundation has some resources to help examine the health care priorities detailed in the President's FY2006 budget proposal.

President's Savings Proposals Likely To Swell Long-Term Deficits

Recently updated. Excerpt: The President's 2005 budget includes a proposal to establish new savings tax breaks. A similar proposal was included in the Administration's budget last year. The proposal -- to establish tax-favored 'Lifetime Savings Accounts' and to replace existing Individual Retirement Accounts with 'Retirement Savings Accounts' -- is ill-advised for five reasons.

President's Savings Proposals Likely To Swell Long-term Deficits, Reduce National Saving

Excerpt: The President's 2005 budget includes a proposal to establish new savings tax breaks. A similar proposal was included in the Administration's budget last year. The proposal -- to establish tax-favored 'Lifetime Savings Accounts' and to replace existing Individual Retirement Accounts with 'Retirement Savings Accounts' -- is ill-advised for five reasons.

Links to Testimony at Hearing on Health Savings Accounts

Witnesses: John Snow, U.S. Department of the Treasury; John Goodman, National Center for Policy Analysis; Ronald Williams, Aetna; Kate Sullivan, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Edward Langston, American Medical Association; and Robert Greenstein, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

President Trump Signs Drug Pricing Executive Orders Reinforcing the Administration's Priorities

"Although the drug pricing executive orders are unlikely to be implemented before the 2020 election, they reinforce the administration's priorities on drug pricing. As stakeholders plan for the years ahead, they should be mindful of their potential impact on their operations. This [article] provides an overview of the President's drug pricing executive orders and describes their scope and potential impact."

Report: President's Savings Proposals Most Likely to Benefit Wealthy -- Revised May 25, 2005 (PDF)

7 pages. Excerpt: The President's 2006 budget includes a proposal to establish new savings tax breaks. .... The proposal would establish tax-favored 'Lifetime Savings Accounts' and replace existing Individual Retirement Accounts with 'Retirement Savings Accounts.' Further, there appears to be growing interest in Congress for expanding tax-preferred savings opportunities, particularly along the lines of the administration's RSA proposal.

President's Proposal Makes Health Savings Accounts More Lucrative for High-Income People

Excerpt: In his State of the Union Address, President Bush proposed to expand Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) by allowing HSA participants to claim a tax deduction for the premium costs of the high-deductible health insurance policies that they purchase. The apparent intent of the proposal is to help more of the uninsured purchase health insurance, albeit less comprehensive high-deductible coverage.

President's Paid Leave Proposal Would Push Costs to States, Produce Stark Disparities

"The budget includes few details about the proposal's design, but it would leave almost all important details to states, including financing, eligibility, benefit levels, and administration. Letting states create their own program standards -- as the [unemployment insurance (UI)] system does -- would likely produce stark disparities across states in the size of benefits and scope of coverage. Under UI, workers in poorer states generally receive lower benefits and face more restrictive eligibility rules than workers earning the same wages in more affluent states. Giving states similarly broad flexibility for their paid leave programs would likely produce similar results."

President's Budget Proposals Would Harm Retirement Savings

"ICI opposes further limits on the amount Americans can save for retirement and reductions in retirement tax incentives. Policy changes of this kind are simply wrongheaded.... ICI supports building on the successes of the voluntary private retirement system with additional voluntary measures, such as those making it easier for small employers to offer retirement plans. We oppose mandates on employers, including any in the Administration's 'auto-IRA' proposal."

President Obama's FY 2016 Budget and the ACA

"The President's budget proposes a number of new health care initiatives, including ... reducing growth in payments for certain Medicare providers, raising the cost of Medicare coverage for higher-income enrollees, authorizing HHS to negotiate drug prices for biologics and high-cost drugs in the Medicare Part D program, ... and continuing to move Medicare payments away from fee-for-service toward value-based payment. For the core ACA health insurance access and affordability programs, the budget simply seeks full funding of the status quo.... The FY 2016 budget projects premium assistance tax credits to cost $39.164 billion and cost-sharing reduction payments to cost $6.215 billion.... Funding for enforcing the employer and individual responsibility provisions is not separately budgeted and is presumably found in the IRS general enforcement and operations support budgets."

President Biden Announces Priorities for Medicaid, the ACA, Women's Health Services, and COVID-19

"The Biden administration has set an aggressive agenda to expand Medicaid and ACA coverage, make up for marketplace coverage losses that have occurred since 2016, restore access to women's health services at home and abroad, and establish a plan for attacking the COVID-19 pandemic."

Administration Signals Priority of Mental Health Parity Enforcement under Fiscal 2023 Budget

"The proposed budget reflects a substantial and sustained commitment to ramp up enforcement efforts, with specific funding for MHPAEA audit activity, including $275 million for the [DOL] over a 10-year period and $125 million for state grants to support their MHPAEA enforcement efforts."

Budget Figures, Workload Data, Fiscal Year 2001 Priorities for PWBA

Excerpt: ... the budget request for [enforcement and compliance] ... includes program enhancements for ... implementing a new program (the Rapid ERISA Action Compliance Team initiative) to protect the rights and benefits of plan participants when the plan sponsor faces severe financial hardship ... expanding PWBA's reporting compliance help desk function related to Form 5500 Report filings ... installation of an interactive toll-free line ...