Soaring health care costs and what we’re doing to fix them.

Over the next several weeks, as we complete another budget debate in Dover, we should not lose sight of Delaware’s long-term challenges and of one issue in particular: the rising cost of health care.

The projected growth rate for state spending on health care services will more than double our expected growth rate in available revenue over the next two years. Next year alone, Delaware taxpayers will spend more than $1.3 billion on health care — primarily on state employee benefits and Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides insurance for low-income Delawareans, those with disabilities, and older residents that require long-term care.

In January, Governor Carney proposed a 2019 budget plan focused on investing in Delaware’s economy, in high-needs schools, and communities across our state. The governor’s budget proposal limits spending growth to 3.5 percent — an increase far below available revenue this year, and one that is sustainable over the long term.

-Rick Geisenberger, Delaware’s secretary of finance.