Sec. 2. Findings and Purpose
282 words·~1 min read·
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Congress finds the following: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 133,000,000 people in the United States live with at least one chronic condition. More than 3 of every 4 health care dollars spent in the United States derive from the care of chronic medical conditions. Such conditions include diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, arthritis, and Alzheimers. Reports from the Trust for America’s Health, the Campaign to End Obesity, and other organizations demonstrate that Federal policies which lead to reductions in the prevalence of one or more chronic diseases may save United States taxpayers as much as $611,000,000,000 over the next 20 years, and more in years beyond that time window.
The Congressional Budget Office, which estimates the cost of Federal policies, typically provides Congress with budgetary impact analyses for a five-year or ten-year period. Longer-term budgetary impacts fall beyond the traditional Congressional Budget Office budget window and therefore are not captured in congressional determinations of policies that reflect strategic investments in chronic disease prevention and treatment, and similar long-term policies. The Congressional Budget Office has produced some long-term budget analysis, assessing the budgetary impact of certain programs for a period of as much as 75 years.
The Congressional Budget Office presently lacks adequate resources to conduct more regular long-term economic analyses. Congress and taxpayers will benefit from having such analyses more regularly available to steward Federal dollars into the most effective policies and programs, particularly those that will generate long-term budgetary savings. The purpose of this Act is to require that the Congressional Budget Office prepare long-term scoring estimates for reported bills and joint resolutions that could have significant economic and fiscal effects outside of the normal scoring periods.