Annie Lowrey at The NYT has a story that is of utmost importance.

It's about the bombshell news that the growth spending on healthcare is in rapid decline.

In figures released last week, the Congressional Budget Office said it had erased hundreds of billions of dollars in projected spending on Medicare and Medicaid. The budget office now projects that spending on those two programs in 2020 will be about $200 billion, or 15 percent, less than it projected three years ago. New data also show overall health care spending growth continuing at the lowest rate in decades for a fourth consecutive year.

Health experts say they do not yet fully understand what is driving the lower spending trajectory. But there is a growing consensus that changes in how doctors and hospitals deliver health care — as opposed to merely a weak economy — are playing a role. Still, experts sharply disagree on where spending might be in future years, a question with major ramifications for the federal deficit, family budgets and the overall economy.

You know all of those charts you see from folks like John Boehner and Paul Ryan? They all rest on the premise of explosive, un-trammeled healthcare inflation.

If healthcare inflation numbers continue their deceleration, then you should rip up these charts.

This story has been bubbling up for awhile.

Last year, former Obama budget chief Peter Orszag named the slowdown in Medicare spending as his Chart Of The Year.

S&P

All of the U.S. debt doom charts are about healthcare inflation. That dissipates — new ballgame.

Read Annie's full story here >