Premier Supports Bill to Capture Long-term Savings in Healthcare

Premier sent a letter in support of the bipartisan Preventive Health Savings Act (H.R. 4464), a bill that would allow Congress to use long-range budget estimates to support evidence-based investments in public health.

The current scoring methodology used by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) limits policymakers’ ability to fully evaluate the long-term value of preventive health initiatives. By focusing only on a ten-year budget window, CBO’s estimates often overlook the substantial savings generated by interventions that prevent chronic disease and other costly health outcomes. Introduced by Jay Obernolte (R-CA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Buddy Carter (R-GA), and Scott Peters (D-CA), this legislation promotes policies that improve healthcare outcomes by capturing potential long-term health savings in federal programs.

Specifically, the bipartisan Preventive Health Savings Act would:

• Allow budget and health-related committee leaders to request an analysis of the two 10-year periods beyond the existing 10-year window;
• Require CBO to conduct an initial analysis to determine whether the provision would result in substantial savings outside the normal scoring window; and
• Define preventive healthcare broadly to include evidence-based interventions that protect and promote health across populations.