Why are health care costs increasing at a slower rate?

Sep 15 2012

National Journal: What's Behind The Slowdown In Health Care Costs?
Health care spending increased by just 3.9 percent in 2010 and 3.8 percent in 2009. And within Medicare, the spending slowdown has been even more dramatic: Instead of the program's average 6 percent annual increase per beneficiary in recent years, 2010's rate was 0.2 percent. In 2011, it was 2.8 percent. This benefits household budgets but also the government's coffers since the longer-term costs of Medicare and other health entitlements pose huge fiscal challenges for the nation. But economists on both sides of the political spectrum say that a variety of forces are at work in the more restrained increases in health care spending. One factor is a weak economy, which means Americans might opt to postpone elective procedures like cataract or knee surgery to avoid out-of-pocket costs that aren't covered by insurance (McCarthy, 9/13).