The Obama administration has credited the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for slow healthcare spending growth in 2012.
Jeanne Lambrew, deputy assistant to the president for health policy, wrote in a blog post the PPACA has helped stop a decades-long trend of skyrocketing healthcare costs that have hurt the economy. Ms. Lambrew wrote the post in response to a Health Affairs study conducted by national health expenditure officials with CMS who found health spending growth remained relatively slow for the fourth consecutive year in 2012.
National health spending in 2012 increased by 3.7 percent to $2.8 trillion, compared with a 3.6 percent increase to $2.7 trillion in 2011, according to the CMS analysis. Since 2009, annual growth in national health spending has remained between 3.6 percent and 3.8 percent, reflecting the lingering effects of the recent recession, according to the study.
In their analysis, CMS economists wrote the PPACA had a "minimal impact on overall national health spending growth through 2012," although provisions including increased Medicaid rebates on prescription drugs, the Medicare drug coverage gap discount program, coverage for dependents younger than 26 and the minimum medical loss ratio had some effect.
Ms. Lambrew acknowledged in her post there is debate concerning how much the PPACA contributed to the cost growth deceleration, but she also wrote there is "no doubt" it reduced Medicare spending growth.
Additionally, she wrote the MLR provision — which requires most insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on care for patients — led to an estimated $5 billion in savings during the past two years. Furthermore, she wrote the PPACA's mandated review of requested premium increases of 10 percent or more helped Americans save an estimated $1.2 billion in 2012.
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