This new report on national health expenditures in 2017 is a great occasion to bring back the term “slowth,” which I believe to be a @ddiamond coinage. healthaffairs.org/doi/abs/10.137…? 
"Slowth" stands for slow growth. Health spending went up last year, but by a lot less than health spending has grown historically--and by less than the overall economy grew. This is good news.
.@JeffYoung has a great piece on this trend, our recent slowth experience, generally, and why it probably doesn't feel like health care spending is on a good trajectory for a lot of Americans. bit.ly/2G5DunT
Here's a great example of the difference between the numbers and how things feel. Last year, prescription drug spending had one the smallest increases in a long time. cms.gov/Research-Stati…
It is impossible for me to tweet about this topic without sharing one of my favorite stories I've written for The New York Times, on slowth in Medicare, and how it kept surprising the budget forecasters. nytimes.com/2014/08/28/ups… @KevinQ
(The chart in the above story is available in mug form. All the coolest health care nerds have them. zazzle.com/msk_classic_me…)
We had a few years of slow growth, and then growth sped up in 2014 because of all the people getting insurance from Obamacare. The fact that things are slowing down again is helpful, and it wasn’t inevitable. nytimes.com/2015/07/29/ups…
