HCP’s Michael E. Chernew, PhD, HSPH’s Katherine Baicker, PhD, and HCP’s John Hsu, MD, MBA, published “The Specter of Financial Armageddon—Health Care and Federal Debt in the United States” in a recent online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The article discusses the connection between the federal debt and health care policy in the United States and the importance of understanding the basics of deficits and their ramifications for health care reform. The authors explain, “The goals of health care reform must therefore be addressed in light of our short-term and long-term fiscal situation. Our current debt is manageable, and we can afford projected deficits for several years, but our structural deficits place us on a path of debt growth that is unsustainable, largely because of health care programs. The sooner we start to rein in health care spending, the less painful the changes may be.” For more information, please read the article in full.