During the economic downturn in 2009 and 2010, health-care costs grew at their slowest rate in decades. New data released Monday showed that slowdown continuing through 2011, with health-care spending growing by 3.9 percent for the third consecutive year.
Health-care costs grew slower than the rest of the economy in 2011 for the first time in more than a decade. For health policy analysts, that’s huge: When they try to get really aggressive on controlling costs, they usually aim for cost growth that is 1 percent higher than the rest of the economy.
That’s the target for Medicare cost growth in the Affordable Care Act. If costs grow any faster, it triggers the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB, to make binding recommendations to Congress on the best way to hit that target.
Right now, health-care costs are falling well below that target, no interference from the IPAB necessary.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/07/the-2-7-trillion-question-are-health-care-costs-really-dropping/?wprss=rss_ezra-klein
The cost control measures of Obamacare are working better than expected.
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