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Conservatives have long been known as hawkish on health care spending.  But in this New York Times piece, Ezekiel Emanuel, a physician and former Obama administration budget staffer, explains why rising health costs should be a top concern on the other end of the political spectrum as well. He argues that the more we spend on health care, the less we can spend on other things we value, and he points to the direct relationship between rising costs and the number of uninsured Americans. While the relationship between coverage and cost may well change in 2014, rising costs will continue to be a burden on states and American families, and Emanuel would have progressives work to address it.

The Supercommittee may have failed, yet we have no choice but to see that failure as an opportunity for Congress as a whole to start facing up to our nation’s challenges, including the need to tame health costs the right way.

“MedPAC has produced an honest attempt to cut the Gordian knot of federal health policy and ending the SGR.  Whether or not MedPAC’s shared sacrifice approach is the right one, at least MedPAC has gotten serious about addressing provider payment. It is long past time that our elected leaders do the same...

The National Coalition on Health Care publicly issued a set of recommendations intended to curb health costs for consumers and businesses as well as government. The proposals’ release comes just two days after a new study reported a nine percent jump in the cost of employer-sponsored health insurance this year.