The Urban Institute released a brief examining the cost containment measures in the national health care reform law.  The brief outlines the law's cost containment measures and evaluates how effectively they will curtail health spending.  The authors note that cost containment is one of the most difficult goals of the law and suggest it could take several years before any meaningful analysis of the law's success at containing costs can be conducted.

From the report: Health reform has several broad objectives, including expanding insurance coverage, containing the growth in health care spending, and improving quality of care. The provisions of the law related to coverage expansions are generally well-understood and likely to achieve their objectives. Policymakers used reduced payments to Medicare Advantage plans and many types of Medicare providers to finance about half the costs of coverage expansion. The types of limits put on Medicare payments have been used successfully in the past and, in addition to offsetting the costs of coverage, will extend the solvency of Medicare. Other provisions of the health reform law related to cost containment and quality improvement are less well-tested and, as a result, have greater uncertainty about their likely effects.

Full report: What Are the Provisions in the New Law for Containing Costs and How Effective Will They Be? (PDF | 239KB)

Urban Institute.  (2010).  What are the provisions in the new law for containing costs and how effective will they be?  Zuckerman, S.