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Bill USA

(6,436 posts)
Wed Nov 20, 2013, 06:03 PM Nov 2013

Report: Rise in health care spending - since passage of ACA - lowest on record

Cross-Post from LBN:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014653309


Health care spending since the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act has risen by 1.3% a year, the lowest rate ever recorded, and health care inflation is the lowest it has been in 50 years, a report released Wednesday by the White House shows.

An economy hobbled by the recession and 2008 economic crisis played a role in some of the reduced spending growth, officials said, but the report cited "structural change" caused, in part, by the law.
(more at link)


This should not be all that surprising. In September the Wall Street Journal (no really, the WSJ) reported

Medical-Price Inflation Is at Slowest Pace in 50 Years
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323342404579081312680485476



[font size="3"]What's really funny is to hear some say "well, it's because of the great recession. People are putting off getting things done (yeah, like heart surgery - UH-huh). BUT WHETHER PEOPLE ARE PUTTING MEDICAL PROCEDURES OFF OR NOT DOES NOT AFFECT THE RATES HOSPITALS AND DOCTORS CHARGE. THat's what these articles are referring to.[/font]

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Report: Rise in health care spending - since passage of ACA - lowest on record (Original Post) Bill USA Nov 2013 OP
TPM - "3 Signs That Obamacare Is Slowing Health Care Spending" TomCADem Nov 2013 #1

TomCADem

(17,378 posts)
1. TPM - "3 Signs That Obamacare Is Slowing Health Care Spending"
Thu Nov 21, 2013, 12:02 AM
Nov 2013

The MSM is stuck in its Koch funded narrative of repeating the same canned story over and over along with a file photo of President Obama frowning. I should have went into journalism, because cutting and pasting without attribution to Frank Lutz seems fairly easy.

The three years since the Affordable Care Act passed -- 2011, 2012 and 2013 -- have seen the slowest growth in health care spending since 1965, when the statistic began being consistently tracked, according to a new White House report.

That's great news, but the source of that trend is important. For the last couple years, most experts have credited the Great Recession for much of the decline. It makes sense: When times are tough, people are going to do what they can to minimize spending on everything, including health care.

But the second goal of Obamacare, beyond expanding health coverage to the uninsured, was getting health care costs under control. Health care spending had grown by an average annual rate of 3.9 percent between 2000 and 2007, before dipping to 1.8 percent between 2007 and 2010. According to the new report, the average annual rate of growth from 2011 to 2013 dropped still further, to 1.3 percent.

At some point, the White House needs to prove that the law is achieving that objective. According to the report released Wednesday, they think they have the evidence to say it's starting to. Jason Furman, chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors, explained why in a briefing with a small group of reporters.
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