In these desperate economic times, health care shines as a lone bright spot.

Merrill Goozner points out that the recent dismal jobs report would be even worse if the health care sector was excluded: “While the rest of the economy was shedding nearly 600,000 jobs . . . hiring remained robust at the nation’s hospitals, physician offices, diagnostic labs, nursing homes, and home health care agencies.”

Those who focus on cutting health spending invariably point to the waste in the system, and reforming this would cost the additional jobs that health care adds to the economy. Is the incoming Obama administration willing to make that sacrifice?

Goozner thinks not, as he thinks that although universal coverage is probable, it is unlikely that “it will be accompanied by more systemic reforms that might curb the health care system’s voracious growth — and the jobs that accompany it.”