HC Reform Update by Mark Sanna: A government analysis of the new health care law says it will not slow the overall growth of health spending because the expansion of insurance and services to 34 million people will offset cost reductions in Medicare and other programs. The study, by the chief Medicare actuary, Richard S. Foster, said, “Overall national health expenditures under the health reform act would increase by a total of $311 billion compared with the amounts that would otherwise be spent from 2010 to 2019.”