Paul Krugman: This [reduced health spending] is a really big deal, in at least three ways: - [1] our supposed fiscal crisis has been postponed, perhaps indefinitely. Deficits are way down, [although theyre] likely to swell again because more [retiring] baby boomers will start collecting benefits. But these days projections of federal debt show it creeping up rather than soaring — the long-term fiscal gap now looks much more manageable than the deficit scolds would have you believe. - [2] the slowdown in Medicare helps refute [the idea that] the health-cost slowdown is the product of a depressed economy, and that spending will surge again. [No], Medicare is a government program, not affected by the recession — the good news on health costs is for real. - [3] The Medicare cost miracle [implies] that everything the usual suspects have been saying about fiscal responsibility is wrong.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 17:22:37 +0000
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