Government Programs | PBS NewsHour

ABOUT US \| LOCAL TV LISTINGS EMAIL PRINT



GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS


	2012 JULY July 31, 2012 Some Filipino Vets Still Awaiting Recognition World War II ended almost 70 years ago but some Filipino veterans are still waiting for recognition of their services. "We are just asking for fair treatment," Celestino Almeda said. Almeda is one of approximately 4,000 applicants for compensation who were not granted veteran status and are contesting that decision.

	July 9, 2012 President Obama Set to Renew Battle Over Bush Tax Cuts Three days after a third consecutive disappointing jobs report, President Obama intends to shift his attention Monday to the issue of tax fairness, calling on Congress to pass a one-year extension of the Bush tax cuts for families making less than $250,000 a year.

	July 5, 2012 Arguments Brew at State Level Over Medicaid Expansion Health correspondent Betty Ann Bowser takes a closer look at the arguments over Medicaid expansion and the states that want to opt out rather than take federal money.

	July 5, 2012 How the Medicaid Expansion Could Impact Your State Now that the Medicaid expansion under the health care reform law is optional for states, officials throughout the country are pledging to boycott that part of the Affordable Care Act. If your state opts out, how many people could be affected? Check out our interactive map.

	July 5, 2012 Could Current Medicaid Recipients Lose Coverage From Supreme Court Ruling? Tonight on the PBS NewsHour, our Health Unit takes a look at what's becoming a controversial part of the federal health care reform law: the expansion of Medicaid to cover up to 17 million uninsured adults.

	July 5, 2012 Why a U.S. Circumcision Push Failed in Swaziland In the country with the highest HIV infection rate in the world, a U.S. effort to circumcise 80 percent of all men aged 15 to 49 in a year ended with roughly a quarter undergoing the procedure. What went wrong?

	July 3, 2012 How Will the Health Care Law Work? Americans Ask, We Answer Susan Dentzer of the journal Health Affairs answers specific questions about the health care law from Americans visiting the National Mall. Among the questions, what will the law mean for small businesses, how soon can someone with pre-existing conditions buy coverage and how will the law get funded?

	July 2, 2012 In Wake of Health Reform Decision, Medicaid Expansion in the Crosshairs Some state officials who oppose the Affordable Care Act are embracing the Supreme Court's ruling that they can opt out of the Medicaid expansion. And if a number of key states decide to do so, the consequences could be big.



	JUNE June 28, 2012 In Real Health Care Terms, What Does the Court Decision Mean for Citizens? Susan Dentzer, editor in chief of the journal Health Affairs and an analyst for the NewsHour gives an overview of the possible implications of the high court's ruling.

	June 21, 2012 What's at Stake for Medicaid as Supreme Court Weighs Health Reform? The future of the nation's largest health insurance program -- Medicaid -- hangs in the balance of the Supreme Court's decision on the 2010 health law. The state-federal program which covers 60 million poor and disabled people would be greatly expanded under the law -- or could be jeopardized entirely without it.



	APRIL April 23, 2012 Social Security Slated to Run Dry in 2033, Trustees Warn Social Security will exhaust its trust fund in 2033 -- three years earlier than previous projections, the program's trustees announced Monday. Ray Suarez, Nancy Altman of Social Security Works and the Heritage Foundation's David John discuss its long-term health amid a retiring baby boomer population and a weakened economy.

	April 23, 2012 Aging Population, Costs Worsen Medicare's Long-term Prognosis The outlook for the Medicare program, which covers nearly 50 million elderly and disabled people, was only slightly worse than findings from last year. Once again, trustees forecast that Medicare's hospital fund would start running out of money in 2024.

	April 6, 2012 Medicare 'Less Generous' Than Private Plans, Study Finds On average, Medicare recipients receive less coverage than the typical elderly employee of a large company, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. If recent proposals to cut Medicare spending or squeeze the program's benefits go forward, the gap could widen.



	MARCH March 28, 2012 Medicaid Expansion: Good or Bad for America? If the health care reform law pushes forward, 16 million more Americans will receive health care coverage through the federal Medicaid program. For perspective, we turn to Tom Miller of the American Enterprise Institute and Ron Pollack of Families USA. Our question: Is the Medicaid expansion good or bad for America?

	March 20, 2012 To Receive Welfare, Should Drug Test Be Required? Since the recession hit, welfare applications have soared in Colorado. Some states have proposed tightening welfare eligibility, in part to deal with limited state budgets. One emerging trend across the country: requiring recipients to pass a drug test. Ray Suarez reports.

	March 6, 2012 Plants Boldly Go Where They've Never Gone Before Nationwide, gardeners are experimenting with newly assigned plant hardiness zones, using an updated USDA guide that shows which plants will survive the coldest temperatures in any region.



	FEBRUARY Feb. 16, 2012 Pelosi: Payroll Tax Cut Deal Will 'Boost' Economy House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi told the NewsHour's Judy Woodruff in an interview Thursday that the deal forged on Capitol Hill to extend a payroll tax cut and continue unemployment insurance benefits will create jobs and help the economy.

	Feb. 13, 2012 Obama, Republicans Square Off Over $3.8 Trillion Budget Plan Unveiling a $3.8 trillion budget blueprint on Monday, President Obama cast the plan as an essential tool to spur economic growth and noted that tough choices would put the country "on a more sustainable fiscal path." Republicans called the plan a "campaign document." Ray Suarez reports.

	Feb. 10, 2012 Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme? Security was originally designed as a "pay-as-you-go" system in which each succeeding generation of workers is supposed to take care of the last. all workers are charged a "payroll" tax, as are their employers. (The employee half has been suspended again until Feb. 29.) That money is supposed to provide for today's retirees.



	JANUARY Jan. 18, 2012 Richard Cordray: From 'Jeopardy!' to Controversial Presidential Appointment Paul Solman talks to Richard Cordray about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Republican opposition, his record on being tough on crime, and 'Jeopardy!'

	Jan. 13, 2012 The Strange, Animal-Killing Side Effects of Tax Policy Changes I don't want to jeopardize my family because I tried to make the country a better place." Arthur Laffer, economist to Ronald Reagan and famous for the Laffer Curve theory, which we explored on Wednesday's NewsHour in 'Taxes: How High is Too high?', had reason to be concerned.

	Jan. 5, 2012 Panetta on Pentagon Budget: 'Cutting Almost $500 Billion Is Not Chump Change' In an interview Thursday after his news conference at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Jeffrey Brown that the United States seeks to be a power in the Pacific and that defense budget cuts announced Thursday will be hard on the military and families, but he hopes a smaller, more flexible armed forces will emerge.

	Jan. 5, 2012 Could a Higher Import Tariff Pay for Medicare and Get the U.S. Out of Debt? If we put a 15 percent tariff on all imported goods, how much money would that tax generate each year? How long to pay off the national debt if spending was halted at current levels? Could it make Social Security solid for the next 50 years?



	2011 DECEMBER Dec. 19, 2011 California Hospital Chain Eyed for Possibly Bilking Medicare for Millions Americans spends more than $500 billion every year on Medicare, and as the cost of health care rises, many are examining how that money is spent. NewsHour's partner The Center for Investigative Reporting conducted a year-long probe into one prominent hospital chain's bills to Medicare. California Watch's Lance Williams reports.

	Dec. 1, 2011 An SEC 'Smackdown' Peter Steiner is the New Yorker cartoonist best known for his 1993 cartoon of two dogs looking at a computer monitor as one says to the other: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." He sent us an economics cartoon the other day and said we could share it, which we do herewith.



	NOVEMBER Nov. 23, 2011 Why Medicare Chief Don Berwick Was Destined to Step Down Dr. Donald Berwick, the man who has been both praised and reviled as the country's Medicare chief, will step down from his job on December 2nd. The White House announced that Marilyn Tavenner, Berwick's principal deputy and formerly Virginia's top health official, to suceed him.

	Nov. 21, 2011 How Do Tax Changes Affect Spending? Paul Solman answers the following question about taxes and spending: "How does raising or lowering taxes affect the economy? What difference does it make if the government spends the money on tanks, infrastructure, buildings or if the people spend it on 42" TV screens, cars, or home improvements?"

	Nov. 17, 2011 How Have Medicaid Dental Benefits Changed in Your State? Since 1982, every state has provided health benefits to low-income Americans through Medicaid. But in times of economic stress, the optional Medicaid dental benefits often become a prime target for cost-cutting politicians. The map below illustrates the evolution of state Medicaid dental benefits in the last decade.

	Nov. 16, 2011 NewsHour Connect: Supercommittee Fast-Tracks New Farm Bill Every 5 years Congress passes a bundle of legislation related to food and agriculture. It usually takes a year for stakeholders to voice concerns and Congress to ultimately enact the bill. This year, however, the Farm Bill process is on the fast track. Hari Sreenivasan checks in with Peggy Lowe of Harvest Public Media for more.

	Nov. 1, 2011 California Voters Fed-Up With Gridlock as Budget Crunch Lingers Spencer Michels reports from California, where the government gridlock is compounding concerns about the state's budget.

	Nov. 1, 2011 Super Committee Urged to 'Go Big' on Deficit Cuts There are just over three weeks to go until the Congressional Super Committee's deficit reduction report is due. Kwame Holman provides an update on the progress.



	OCTOBER Oct. 20, 2011 HHS Releases Final Regulations For ACOs The Obama administration has released its much-awaited final rule for Medicare accountable care organizations, making it easier for doctors and hospitals to participate.

	Oct. 19, 2011 Social Security Recipients to Get 3.6% Boost, but How Much Will it Help? Starting in January, 55 million Social Security recipients will get a 3.6 percent bump in benefits. Margret Warner discusses the cost-of-living adjustment, which is tied to inflation, with Robert Reischauer of the Urban Institute.

	Oct. 17, 2011 Occupy Wall Street Movement Expands to International Cities Following weeks of protests in New York and other cities in the United States, demonstrators took to the streets in locations around the world in similarly fashioned protests over the weekend, resulting in hundreds of arrests.



	SEPTEMBER Sept. 28, 2011 How Severe Are Problems With Social Security? Social Security checks go out on Wednesday to more than 52 million Americans, but the viability of the program has recently taken center stage in the GOP presidential nomination race. Ray Suarez discusses the economics of Social Security with David John of the Heritage Foundation and Henry Aaron of the Brookings Institution.

	Sept. 28, 2011 Can Social Security, Medicare Be Considered Wealth? Economist Robert Lerman argued that such programs as Social Security and Medicare can reasonably be included in the definition of one's wealth. And if it is, inequality between rich and poor Americans is actually less drastic. Many of you wrote in to question and express disagreement with his analysis. Here. he's responded.

	Sept. 26, 2011 Is the Conventional Wisdom on Social Security Correct? Economics correspondent Paul Solman answers a question from a viewer who weighs the pros and cons between delaying Social Security benefits until the age of 70 and collecting at the age of 66.

	Sept. 22, 2011 Disaster Aid at Center of Funding Battle in House The latest battle over U.S. federal funding is a tug-of-war over disaster aid. Judy Woodruff discusses the battle, and fears that it could lead to a government shutdown, with The Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid.

	Sept. 22, 2011 A Clarification of Medicare and Medicaid From Our Last Inequality Report Many viewers took us to task for failing to acknowledge in our report on Wednesday's program that custodial nursing home care is usually paid for by Medicaid, rather than Medicare. They are correct: Medicare generally does not pay for nursing home coverage.

	Sept. 20, 2011 How Obama Plans To Cut Health Programs By $320 Billion President Obama proposed $320 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, largely by changing how the federal government pays health providers, slashing payments to drug companies, and dramatically changing the way it splits the costs of Medicaid with the states, according to the White House

	Sept. 19, 2011 Political Checklist: GOP Calls Obama's Deficit-Reduction Plan 'Class Warfare' President Obama on Monday unveiled his new recommendations to the Joint Select Committee on deficit reduction -- a $3 trillion, 10-year package that would increase taxes on the wealthy and make some changes to entitlement programs.

	Sept. 14, 2011 9/11 to Now: Ways We Have Changed The decade after the 9/11 attacks reshaped many facets of life in America. Some changes were temporary -- an immediate response out of concern for our safety -- while some proved to be more lasting transformations in American life.

	Sept. 12, 2011 Ahead of Debate, Perry Adjusts Approach to Social Security Texas Gov. Rick Perry is trying to "fix" a political problem he created for himself in the last Republican presidential debate. The front-runner for the nomination previews his adjusted approach to talking about Social Security in an op-ed in Monday's USA Today.

	Sept. 6, 2011 How Should U.S. Postal Service's Financial Problems Be Fixed? The head of the U.S. Postal Service told lawmakers Tuesday that radical changes are needed to avert a financial collapse. Gwen Ifill leads a debate over what can be done to stave off a shutdown with Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

	Sept. 1, 2011 Report Finds Fraud, Waste by War Contractors Costs Billions After a three-year investigation, a congressionally mandated commission found this week that between $31 billion and $60 billion has been misspent in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Margaret Warner discusses the findings with one of the commissioners, Dov Zakheim.



	AUGUST Aug. 31, 2011 Vermont's Rare Flood-Induced Crisis Spurs Emergency Airlifts After the torrential rains from Tropical Storm Irene ripped homes from their foundations, washed out hundreds of key roads, and turned much of southern Vermont into a collection of unsustainable islands, Gov. Peter Shumlin deployed the National Guard to hand-deliver water and food to desperate towns.

	Aug. 31, 2011 Report: More Than $30 Billion Wasted in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars A bipartisan panel known as the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan sent its final report to Congress Wednesday, detailing at least $30 billion -- and possibly as much as $60 billion -- in wasteful spending during the course of the last decade.

	Aug. 24, 2011 News Wrap: U.S. Budget Deficit to Top $1.2 Trillion for Year In other news Wednesday, the federal budget deficit will top $1.2 trillion this fiscal year. The Congressional Budget Office reported the deficit will be slightly down from the last two years. Also, Syrian government forces stepped up their crackdown on a key city in the eastern part of the country.

	Aug. 24, 2011 Battle for the Black Hills Members of the Great Sioux Nation in South Dakota are refusing $1.3 billion in federal funds, held in trust after parts of the resource-rich Black Hills were taken from them in 1877. Now, tribal leaders are fighting to reclaim some of the lost land.

	Aug. 12, 2011 Rural Post Offices on Shaky Ground There are 3,700 mostly rural facilities that the U.S. Postal Service is now studying for potential closure.