"[If] either inflation or the growth in real G.D.P. in the United States should pick up again, then the growth of national health spending should be expected to pick up again as well. There is an emerging consensus among health economists, however, that other factors within United States health care itself have contributed to the decline in health spending growth and will prevent that growth rate from returning to levels observed in previous decades.... [A] pronounced decline in the annual growth of health spending is not unique to the period 2002-12. There was a similar decline during 1989-96, only to end up in a sharp reversal. So is this time different?"  MORE >>