The actuary office at CMS reported that U.S. spending on health care grew by a modest rate of 2.7% in 2021, an outcome that would ordinarily prompt cheers by policy wonks who worry about the effect of ever-growing national health expenditures (NHEs) on the larger economy. The problem is that NHE had ballooned by more than 10% in 2020, a rate of growth that was driven in large part by the COVID-19 pandemic, but which statistically overshadowed the growth rate in 2021.