Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Obamacafre inflation working into the economy

Bloomberg: Health-care costs, a significant component of the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of inflation, are poised to accelerate, according to a new report from Goldman Sachs. "Health inflation typically outpaces economy-wide inflation, but over the last couple of years the health sector has actually been running well below the rate of core inflation," wrote economist Alec Phillips. The Fed uses the core personal consumption index as its primary metric for assessing the upward pressure on prices, and medical costs are a substantial factor to this metric. These disinflationary pressures, which have been emanating primarily from the public sector, are nearly at an inflection point, Goldman says.

 The report talks about policy tweaks that have delayed costs.  These tweaks mostly delay the price adjustment so that measured health care inflation is a delayed variable.  Local governments are already seeing the inflation, already cutting back to make the payments.

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