Leading Democrats have contended for several years that controlling overall health costs is paramount because working families are overburdened with medical expenses. They have a point. Rising premiums for employer coverage have crowded out wage hikes, and escalating public insurance spending has diverted government resources from other priorities.
Now with the power to act, however, party leaders are emphasizing a different agenda. Instead of controlling costs, which is politically difficult, their plan -- reflected vividly in President Biden’s most recent version of the Build Back Better initiative -- is to shift more of the financial burden onto the government (and thus taxpayers). The net result will be an escalation of aggregate cost growth rather than a slowing down.
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