Another possible macroeconomic effect of cost growth containment is a short-run impact on unemployment and employment.

WHITEHOUSE: CEA -- Chair's Remarks -- 06082009

In the short-run it may succeed, though at the potential cost of replacing promised fiscal austerity and state reform with modest helpings of old-fashioned pork.

ECONOMIST: A search for political allies

Third, it is increasingly clear that the long-run cost estimates of ObamaCare were well short of the mark because of the incentive that employers will have under that plan to end private coverage and put employees on the public system.

WSJ: Lawrence B. Lindsey: The Deficit Is Worse Than We Think

But a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the financial impact of a 50-cent-per-pack increase in cigarette taxes shows that while cutting the number of smokers trims government outlays over the short run, the increased longevity and higher end-of-life expenses of non-smokers eventually would cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars more from Medicare and Social Security.

FORBES: Fewer Smokers Means Higher Taxpayer Costs, Study Finds