David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, has urged Congress to carefully re-examine federal health spending and its impact on our nation's long-term fiscal outlook.  Following are important excerpts from Walker's recent House Budget Committee testimony that may be of special interest to Health Freedom Watch readers:

·         "Contrary to public perceptions, health care is the biggest driver of the long-term fiscal challenge. While Social Security is important because of its size, health care spending is both large and projected to grow much more rapidly."

·         "U]nlike Social Security, Medicare spending growth rates reflect not only a burgeoning beneficiary population, but also the escalation of health care costs at rates well exceeding general rates of inflation. The growth of medical technology has contributed to increases in the number and quality of health care services. Moreover, the actual costs of health care consumption are not transparent. Consumers are largely insulated by third-party payers from the cost of health care decisions."

·         "A major difficulty is that our current system does little to encourage informed discussions and decisions about the costs and value of various health care services. These decisions are very important when it comes to cutting-edge drugs and medical technologies, which can be incredibly expensive but only marginally better than other alternatives."

·         "The problem of escalating health care costs is complex because addressing federal programs such as Medicare and the federal-state Medicaid program will need to involve change in the health care system of which they are a part--not just within federal programs. This will be a major societal challenge that will affect all age groups."