Despite a robust economy, the U.S. budget deficit is poised to double over the next year — to an eye-watering $2 trillion. As bad as that sounds, things would be a lot worse if it weren’t for a surprising bright spot: health care costs, which have been growing more slowly than expected for more than a decade.
It’s an odd situation that turns decades of Washington conventional wisdom on its head. People used to say that the key to deficit reduction was entitlement reform. Now entitlement reform seems possible — but only if people don’t try to bring the deficit into it.
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