Whatever form it takes, health care reform will increase the number of Americans covered by health insurance. But there is concern that the legislation will not bend the cost curve—that is, will not reduce the growth of health care costs so that it more closely resembles the growth of the US gross domestic product (GDP). Currently, health care consumes about 16% of the GDP; advocates of bending the cost curve hope that in 2020 it will still consume roughly the same proportion....
The remainder of this op-ed can be found at jama.ama-assn.org
JAMA. 2010;303(15):1535-1536.
This commentary originally appeared in The Journal of the American Medical Association on April 21, 2010. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.