Healthcare Spending projected to be $529B LOWER in 2019 than pre-ACA estimates

Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation tweets:

CMS actuaries are now projecting that health spending will be $529 billion lower in 2019 than they thought four years ago.

— Larry Levitt (@larry_levitt) September 3, 2014

I'm pretty sure this is related to this story:

In a historical aberration, out-of-pocket spending on health care is expected to decrease in 2014, according to a new report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, because of expanded insurance coverage under Obamacare.

CMS actuaries, writing in Health Affairs, projected that Americans' out-of-pocket spending would decrease by 0.2 percent. While that's a small drop, it's a big change from the historical trend of steadily increasing out-of-pocket spending. Out-of-pocket spending increased by 3.2 percent in 2013. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation's Larry Levitt, such spending has only decreased in 1967 (Medicare and Medicaid took effect) and in 1994 and 2009 under slowing economies.

The cause this year is Obamacare.

CMS said the decline would occur "largely because of expanded insurance coverage through Medicaid and the (insurance) Marketplaces." They also credited the cost-sharing subsidies available to Obamacare enrollees below 250 percent of the federal poverty level.

Anyway, here's a direct link to the actuary report; take a look if you're so inclined...