Fox News' Eric Bolling and Ben Carson denied the positive effects of the Affordable Care Act(ACA)on slowing the rise of health care cost growth in recent years, despite economists crediting the law for partly being responsible.

A December 18 New York Times report explained that health care spending “is growing at the slowest pace ever recorded”:

Nationally, spending on health care is growing at the slowest pace ever recorded. Annual spending on health care often grew more than 10 percent a year during the 1970s and '80s. Growth dipped in the 1990s, only to rise again, but starting in the early 2000s, the rate began falling. It is now just about 4 percent a year.

During the January 2 edition of Hannity, Bolling claimed that the ACA hasn't helped slow down health care costs, and denied that the rate of growth has even slowed:

BOLLING: Obamacare hasn't done a thing for the cost of health care. It hasn't done a thing. It has done something for the cost of health insurance, but not a darn thing for health care. Health care costs aren't slowing down, they are still rising.

Earlier, Fox contributor Ben Carson also denied the role of Obamacare's impact on slowing health care costs. Appearing on Fox's On The Record, Carson noted that health care costs began slowing during the recession, claiming that this proves Obamacare played no role in controlling health care costs.

But these claims ignore what economists have said about the ACA's role in slowing down the rise in health care costs. A November 20 report from the White House's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) explained that the recession is not the only cause of the slowdown in rising health care costs, and detailed how the health care reform law is contributing:

The ACA is contributing to the recent slow growth in health care prices and spending and is improving quality of care: ACA provisions that reduce Medicare overpayments to private insurers and medical providers are contributing to the recent slow growth in health care prices and spending.  Other ACA reforms are reducing hospital readmission rates (see figure below) and increasing provider participation in payment models designed to promote efficient, high-quality care.

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Intriguingly, recent economic research suggests that the ACA's reforms to Medicare may have “spillover effects” that reduce costs and improve quality system-wide, not just in Medicare.  Accounting for “spillover effects” of the ACA's reductions in Medicare overpayments suggests that the ACA has reduced health care price inflation by 0.5 percent per year since 2010, which represents a substantial fraction of the recent slowdown in health care price growth.

Other economists, such as Paul Krugman, Dean Baker, and MIT's Jonathan Gruber, agreed with the CEA's assessment that the ACA is partially responsible for the slowdown in health care costs.

Additionally, an article published on December 26 in The New England Journal of Medicine, which examined the slowing growth in health care costs, recommended that the cost control provisions in the ACA should continue to be implemented:

A central finding of our analysis is that, regardless of what happens to cost trends, current spending is far higher than needed, and it demands continued efforts at cost control, including implementation of new ACA provisions. In recent months, many independent groups have put forth cost-control ideas that build on the health reform law and suggest common strategies that should be pursued to improve efficiency in the health system.