A recent report released by the United States Congressional Budget Office shows that the rate of increase in Medicare spending has slowed yet again. Does this mean that Medicare is not the budget buster, which many had predicted? As is usually the case, the story is more nuanced.
Steady declines in hospital occupancy, nursing home utilization and other health services have been attributed to the Great Recession and to demographics. With pressure off of the Medicare budget, the focus turns to state-level Medicaid programs which, either despite, or because of the changes wrought by ACA (Obama care) are straining from the budgetary load.
This is the frontier of healthcare reform. The impacts on medical tourism, international healthcare and domestic medical travel may be significant!
http://cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/45653-OutlookUpdate_2014_Aug.pdf
