Peter Suderman at Reason on ACA claims that the law is lowering health spending overall:

‘Obamacare may be having a small effect on health spending growth at the margins, and it’s possible it will have a bigger effect in years to come. But the bulk of the slowdown so far is more likely a result of the recession over the last few years and significantly increased adoption of consumer-driven health plans in the years prior to the economic downturn. ‘

Bob Woodward At The Washington Post on Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates new memoir.  War or continued war that is likely to bear little fruit, this blog is concerned about coming up with a strategy for Afghanistan.

Appealing to a pro-peace base, setting a timeline, and pulling-out does not necessarily meet our objective:

‘As I sat there, I thought: the president doesn’t trust his commander, can’t stand [Afghanistan President Hamid] Karzai, doesn’t believe in his own strategy, and doesn’t consider the war to be his. For him, it’s all about getting out.”

More on Gates’s career at the link.

Addition:  Another Gates quote:

‘Today, too many ideologues call for U.S. force as the first option rather than a last resort. On the left, we hear about the “responsibility to protect” civilians to justify military intervention in Libya, Syria, Sudan and elsewhere. On the right, the failure to strike Syria or Iran is deemed an abdication of U.S. leadership. And so the rest of the world sees the U.S. as a militaristic country quick to launch planes, cruise missiles and drones deep into sovereign countries or ungoverned spaces’