Legislation
In 1986, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
(COBRA) was enacted, which included Title IX: Medicare and Medicaid Budget
Reconciliation Amendments of 1985. The P.L. number of the Act
is 99-272. COBRA dictated changes in revenue and spending provisions
for various federally funded programs with the intent of reducing the federal
budget deficit. COBRA attempted to reduce federal spending in such
areas as housing, transportation, education, health care, and agriculture.
These are some of the greatest sources of federal expenditures. Among
the provisions stipulated in this act, hospice was made a permanent benefit
under Medicare and states were given the option to include hospice as a
benefit under Medicaid. Among the 13 short titles included in COBRA
were the Veterans' Health-Care and Compensation Rate Amendments of 1985,
the Student Financial Assistance Amendments of 1985, and the Single-Employer
Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1986. The summary of this legislation can
be found on the Thomas Website at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d099:HR03128:@@@L|TOM:/bss/d099query.html|.
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