Paul N. Van de Water Explains the Challenges with Controlling Healthcare Costs and Spending

Paul N. Van de Water, senior fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, suggests that controlling healthcare costs and spending is a complicated process — one in which no right answer exists. He says that healthcare stakeholders will need to try a number of approaches, with each approach carrying a different trade-off.

“Controlling healthcare costs means lower growth of income for some healthcare providers — it could mean the beneficiaries have to pay more, it could mean the beneficiaries have a more limited choice of providers,” Mr Van de Water says. “We can’t expect to control costs in a painless fashion.”