Report links ACA to slowdown of healthcare costs
Recent data show that healthcare spending is growing at its slowest rate in decades. The White House Council of Economic Advisers released a 29-page report that links the Accountable Care Act (ACA) to this spending slowdown, and also attributes the law to improvements in quality of care.
Real per capita healthcare spending has grown at an estimated average annual rate of 1.3 percent since 2010, which is the lowest rate on record for any three-year period and less than one-third of the long-term historical average since 1965, according to the council.
Among the report’s findings:
- Healthcare price inflation is at its lowest in 50 years.
- The slowdown in healthcare cost growth is not directly attributable to the recession as it continued even as the economy began recovering; as such, it reflects structural changes to the U.S. healthcare system.
- ACA provisions that reduce Medicare overpayments are putting a dent in healthcare prices and spending; also, penalties for hospital readmissions and increasing participation in new payment systems are having an impact.
- Slower healthcare growth will benefit the economy and employment prospects, as employers will have greater incentive to hire additional workers if benefits expenses are contained.
“The evidence suggests that the ACA is already contributing to lower spending and price growth and that these effects will grow in the years ahead, bringing lower cost, higher quality care to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and to the health system as a whole,” according to the report.
The council advised continued aggressive implementation of ACA reforms, in particular in developing and deploying value-based payment models
Read the report here.