WASHINGTON – A dyed-in-the-wool skeptic might have reflexively chortled when proponents of healthcare reform claimed the changes in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) would lower healthcare spending, but the skeptics found ammunition in a presentation made Wednesday by actuaries from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The session, held at the National Press Club (Washington) and sponsored by the healthcare policy journal Health Affairs, disclosed that CMS expects healthcare spending to increase the federal deficit by 2019, not reduce it as was commonly claimed during the run-up to reform. (Medical Device Daily)