In a recent New York Times column, Nobel-laureate economist Paul Krugman say not to fret about the federal debt that has seen a significant increase recently. He says, however, that failing to fix health care could be the real undoing of our economy and government:

So is there anything to worry about? Yes, but the dangers are political, not economic.

As I’ve said, those 10-year projections aren’t as bad as you may have heard. Over the really long term, however, the U.S. government will have big problems unless it makes some major changes. In particular, it has to rein in the growth of Medicare and Medicaid spending.

That shouldn’t be hard in the context of overall health care reform. After all, America spends far more on health care than other advanced countries, without better results, so we should be able to make our system more cost-efficient.

» Read his column