New data released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation show that premium growth in employer-sponsored coverage remained slow in 2015, extending the recent streak of unusually slow growth. Taken together with estimates of current trends in Medicare spending released this summer, these data suggest that underlying growth in per-enrollee health care costs remains low, even as thedramatic expansion in coverage since early 2014 drives a temporary uptick in the growth of aggregate health care spending. Recent years’ slow growth in health care costs—which is thanks in part to the Affordable Care Act—is already generating major benefits for workers and our fiscal outlook. Looking ahead, keeping these positive trends going will require that we continue to make good use of the tools provided by the Affordable Care Act, including: moving our health care system toward payment models that reward efficient, high-quality care; continuing to foster a transparent and competitiveHealth Insurance Marketplace; and implementing the law’s tax provision that encourages high-cost employer plans to become more efficient.
– The White House