Health-care price inflation is at its lowest rate in 50 years
Source: Raw Story/Christian Science Monitor
By The Christian Science Monitor
Thursday, November 21, 2013 7:26 EST
Health care spending is growing at the slowest rate on record, and health-care price inflation is at its lowest rate in 50 years, according to a report released Wednesday by the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Specifically, since 2010, the year the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed, the growth of health-care spending has averaged an estimated 1.3 percent per year. And price inflation for health-care goods and services is running at just 1 percent, year-over-year, the lowest level since 1962.
Does the Affordable Care Act deserve credit? Council chairman Jason Furman suggests it does.
“While this marked slowdown likely has many causes, and these causes are not yet fully understood, the available evidence suggests that the ACA is contributing to these trends, and, moreover, is helping to improve quality of care for patients,” Mr. Furman writes on the White House blog.
The White House is eager to tout any good news it can find on health reform, as public approval of the ACA and Mr. Obama’s job approval have hit record lows. Enrollments on HealthCare.gov have picked up, but it’s far from certain that the site will be able to handle a wave of new traffic as the Dec. 15 deadline approaches for people who want their new insurance to start on Jan. 1.
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/21/health-care-price-inflation-is-at-its-lowest-rate-in-50-years/
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