White House: Healthcare costs will be contained

Mark Silva
Los Angeles Times
Dec 14, 2009

Slowing the growth of healthcare costs -- "bending the curve,'' as it's become known -- is one of the goals that reformers have in mind.

The legislation that Democratic leaders have pushed through the House and are trying to push through the Senate do that, the White House says.

"Looking at the bills as they are written, we are getting a genuine slowing of healthcare costs by, we think, 1%,'' Christina Romer, chair of the president's Council of Economic Advisors, said in a conference call with reporters today, as the White House released a report making "the economic case for healthcare reform.''