With a fourth consecutive year of record-low healthcare spending growth, the Congressional Budget Office has reduced its spending projections for Medicare and Medicaid in 2020 by $200 billion, 15 percent, from predictions three years ago, according to a report by the New York Times.
There's no guarantee the slowed trend will last, the report notes, citing a dip and rise in healthcare costs in the 1990s. Still, there's evidence to suggest the recession is not the sole cause of the lower cost increases, and CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf said last week that "structural changes in the healthcare system" were a "significant part" of the reason.
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There's no guarantee the slowed trend will last, the report notes, citing a dip and rise in healthcare costs in the 1990s. Still, there's evidence to suggest the recession is not the sole cause of the lower cost increases, and CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf said last week that "structural changes in the healthcare system" were a "significant part" of the reason.
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