Happy Tuesday folks,
You will likely continue to hear talk from the White House and from liberals in Congress about how Obamacare has slowed the rise in healthcare spending (CMS determined that healthcare spending rose “by 3.7 percent in 2012, the fourth year in a row that the increase was at a near-record low”).
Even yesterday, a White House official gave credit to Obamacare for the news: “The Affordable Care Act, for the first time in decades, has helped to stop that trend.”
However, it’s important to look past the misleading statements from the Obama Administration and Left, and focus on the fact that Obamacare was not a reason for the slow rise in costs.
As NPR’s Julie Rovner pointed out, “But one thing that did not lead to slower growth, according to the authors, was the Affordable Care Act.”
And Clara Ritger of National Journal recently wrote that, “The Recession, Not Obamacare, Is Slowing Health Spending.”
Ritger indicates that the lackluster economy is to blame, citing recent data as evidence: “In 2007, health care spending rose 6.3 percent. But since 2009 that growth rate has held between 3.6 and 3.8 percent.”
So the real story here is the weak economy. “‘The trends we’re seeing in the last few years are consistent with the historical relationship between health spending and overall economic growth,” said a Medicare statistician.
So even though hot air might seem welcoming on a frigid day like today, keep in mind that the Left’s statements on healthcare spending are a desperate attempt to provide a positive spin to Obamacare, even as “the economists at CMS were not quick to credit the president’s legacy health initiative” for the spending figures.
Using this data, conservatives have an opportunity to demonstrate that not only is Obamacare not helping in the fight against higher healthcare spending, but that the liberal policies of the Obama Administration continue to hold back our economy.
Stay warm.