Why it Matters
The House Budget Committee will mark up two bills focused on preventive health spending and federal budget baselines on Sept. 16, as health care groups and other organizations continue lobbying on the measures.
The Healthcare Leadership Council, a coalition of health care executives, reported $200,000 in first-quarter lobbying expenses that included work on H.R. 4464, the Preventive Health Savings Act, and pharmacist-services legislation. The Bipartisan Policy Center Action Inc. also listed the Preventive Health Savings Act among issues in an amended third-quarter 2024 lobbying filing.
The Preventive Health Savings Act would establish a process for the Congressional Budget Office to estimate the long-term budgetary effects of preventive health legislation beyond the standard 10-year budget window. The proposal would allow lawmakers to request estimates covering a 30-year period for qualifying preventive health measures.
The committee will also consider H.R. 6470, the Increasing Baseline Updates Act. The bill would require CBO, unless directed otherwise by the chairs of the House and Senate Budget committees, to provide Congress with at least two updates to its annual budget and economic baseline each year, with at least one update including the economic data used to calculate it. It would also require the president, to the extent practicable, to provide Congress with technical budget data by Feb. 1 each year, giving CBO more timely information for its projections and legislative cost estimates.
Broader Context
The markup will be chaired by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), with Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) serving as ranking member.
The Increasing Baseline Updates Act is intended to give lawmakers more current information about projected federal spending, revenues and economic conditions when considering legislation. CBO's baseline serves as the benchmark against which the budgetary effects of legislation are measured, meaning more frequent updates could affect the underlying assumptions used in congressional cost estimates.
The committee has previously considered legislation aimed at changing how the Congressional Budget Office develops estimates and baseline projections. Supporters of the Preventive Health Savings Act argue that the traditional 10-year scoring window can fail to capture savings from preventive health policies that emerge over longer periods.
The Healthcare Leadership Council has publicly supported H.R. 4464, arguing that incorporating longer-term savings into CBO estimates could give lawmakers a more complete picture of the fiscal effects of preventive health legislation.
The Bottom Line
The two bills would change how Congress evaluates the federal budget from different angles. The Preventive Health Savings Act would give lawmakers estimates of certain preventive health policies' long-term fiscal effects, while the Increasing Baseline Updates Act would require more frequent CBO baseline updates, giving Congress more current budget and economic projections when considering legislation.
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