Health Care Spending Soars

"Americans' spending on health care spiked by 9.9 percent in the first quarter of 2014, new federal data shows. That data could be revised, or it could be a blip, but it adds to the evidence that health-care costs are back on the march — which is very, very bad news for the federal budget." — So reports Vox, casting some doubt on the Peter Orszag claim that the enrollment of people into ObamaCare health insurance would "bend the curve" downward on health care costs. It turns out that people who newly have health insurance that they (and in some cases, the rest of the taxpayers) are paying for actually use that insurance, and that, contrary to the claims, that usage isn't all that much cheaper than the occasional use of emergency rooms by uninsured patients.