Economists: Health Cost Crisis Coming

Experts Say Congress Must Change Spending on Health Care

By Mike Lillis 06/17/2008

In what is fast becoming a repetitive exercise, some of Washington's top economists warned lawmakers Tuesday that health-care spending threatens to devour the nation's economy unless Congress steps in with sweeping reforms.

The message is hardly news on Capitol Hill, where some policy-makers have sounded a similar alarm for years. But forecasting a fiscal doomsday is easier than convincing a divided Congress to prevent it. Indeed, despite the urgency of the health spending warnings, lawmakers agree that no major reforms are coming this election year.