Paul Krugman on the Woefully Underreported, Surprisingly Good News About Medicare [View all]

[madokie]

Not that the deficit hawks will listen.

Remember those scary rising healthcare costs, the ones that historically have risen much faster than G.D.P.?

They are a thing of the past, Paul Krugman informs us in today's column. "Health spending has slowed sharply," he writes, "and it’s already well below projections made just a few years ago. The falloff has been especially pronounced in Medicare, which is spending $1,000 less per beneficiary than the Congressional Budget Office projected just four years ago."

Wow, this is really great news. Why aren't we hearing more about it? Could it be because the deficit scolds who continue to hold sway in the halls of power don't want us to hear it, and refuse to acknowledge it? Could be, because, as Krugman writes, "a big implication of the Medicare cost miracle is that everything the usual suspects have been saying about fiscal responsibility is wrong."

And the usual suspects don't like that.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/paul-krugman-woefully-underreported-surprisingly-good-news-about-medicare?paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark