So you Obamacare fans thought that his health transformation was going to assist us with the costs associated with health care?
Wrong-O. Worse.
Before this data came out, I had a somber conversation with an economist of my acquaintance about what health care cost moderation might mean. If Obamacare's boosters were right, it would mean more money to spend on other things--at least, for those of us who are not doctors or nurses. But if they were wrong, and the moderation in cost growth indeed resulted from the economic slowdown, any long term moderation in cost growth would also be accompanied by long-term moderation in economic growth--a cure worse than the disease. Health care costs that grow at 3% when the economy is growing at 1% are not better than health care costs growing at 5% when the economy is growing at 3%. They are much, much worse.
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