This week promises another spate of droll economic news. (Although don't tell that to the traders on Wall Street, who've helped pushed the Dow and S&P up roughly 20 percent since their November lows.)
On Monday, the feds reported that health care spending continued to gobble up a greater chunk of the economy last year, jumping 6.1 percent to $2.2 trillion.
Now while we'll hear much moaning and gnashing of teeth over this so-called atrocity, it's worth pointing out that the increase was the smallest we've seen in more than 10 years. And that's due in large part to consumers stepping up and insisting on generic drug use, among other things. Generics made up 67 percent of meds prescribed last year, up from 63 percent.
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So, keep that in mind next time you hear someone kvetching about the state of health care in this country. And remind them while you're at it. We've all suffered from selective fact presentation when it comes to any kind of health care discussions, and the onus is literally "on us" to fight back with the rest of the story.
Because, trust me, things aren't about to get any easier.
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