Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: President’s FY2013 Budget

Alison Mitchell, Coordinator
Analyst in Health Care Financing

Paulette C. Morgan, Coordinator
Specialist in Health Care Financing

Federal law requires the President to submit an annual budget to Congress no later than the first Monday in February. The budget informs Congress of the President’s overall federal fiscal policy based on proposed spending levels, revenues, and deficit (or surplus) levels. The budget request lays out the President’s relative priorities for federal programs, such as how much should be spent on defense, education, health, and other federal programs. The President’s budget may also include legislative proposals for spending and tax policy changes. While the President is not required to propose legislative changes for those parts of the budget that are governed by permanent law, such as Medicare benefits, such changes are generally included in the budget. President Obama submitted his FY2013 budget to Congress on February 13, 2012.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is the division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that is responsible for administering Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), among other activities. The President’s budget estimates CMS’s net mandatory and discretionary outlays will be $829.4 billion in FY2013, which is an increase of $72.3 billion, or 9.5%, over the net outlays for FY2012. This estimate includes a Medicare physician payment adjustment, the estimated impact of the legislative proposals, and the estimated savings from program integrity investments.

For budgetary purposes, CMS is divided into the following sections: Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, program integrity, state grants and demonstrations, private health insurance protections and programs, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and program management. The President’s FY2013 budget contains a number of legislative proposals that would affect the CMS budget. Some are program expansions, and others are designed to reduce federal spending.

This report summarizes the President’s budget estimates for each section of the CMS budget. Then, for each legislative proposal included in the President’s budget, this report provides a description of current law and the President’s proposal. The explanations of the President’s legislative proposals are grouped by the following program areas: Medicare, Medicaid, program integrity, and health insurance programs. At the end of each of these sections, there is a table summarizing the estimated costs or savings for each legislative proposal.


Date of Report: February 21, 2012
Number of Pages: 43
Order Number: R42368
Price: $29.95

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