White House Health Czar Repeats False Claim Of Lower Health Costs

White House health care czar Nancy-Anne Deparle repeated the claim that the health care reform law signed by President Obama will result in lower health care costs despite a well-known government report to the contrary.

Deparle, speaking to the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in Washington on Monday, said that the new health care reform would make health care more affordable by lowering premiums and reducing costs.

“The new law makes health insurance affordable for [the] middle class and small businesses,” Deparle said. “It’s one of the largest tax cuts for health care in history – reducing premiums and out of pocket costs.”

However, a report from the Medicare chief actuary found a “negligible” impact on the cost of health care. The only provision of the bill it found might have an impact on health costs was the government spending on comparative effectiveness research – a reduction of a mere $800,000 per year from the trillions in annual national health expenditures.

“We show a negligible financial impact over the next 10 years for the other provisions intended to help control future health care cost growth,” the report found. “There is no consensus in the available literature or among experts that prevention and wellness efforts result in lower costs.”

In fact, the report found that not only will the health care reform not significantly reduce health care costs – at least not for anyone but government – it won’t even stop them from increasing – a purported benefit known as ‘bending the curve.’

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