This report provides answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about how federal health care programs and requirements are implemented in Puerto Rico, including information about eligibility, coverage, program requirements, and payment rules. Examples provided in the FAQs illustrate that in many circumstances, some health programs in Puerto Rico differ from programs in the US, while in other circumstances, Puerto Rico is treated the same as the states. As such, these questions and answers should be viewed as a discussion of the complexity of health care financing as it relates to Puerto Rico under current law.

This report discusses multiple challenges the government of Puerto Rico faces in the fall of 2015. Concerns regarding the sustainability of Puerto Rico's public finances have intensified over the past year, despite several measures taken by the island's government to reduce spending, increase revenues, and restructure its obligations. The Puerto Rican government outlined a medium-term strategy to address those challenges in a fiscal plan put forth in mid-September 2015.