Health costs, failure to enact reforms could lead to ratings downgrades

Reuters: S&P Warns Cuts Loom For G20 Nations On Health Costs
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned it may downgrade "a number of highly rated" Group of 20 countries from 2015 if their governments fail to enact reforms to curb rising healthcare spending and other costs related to ageing populations. Developed nations in Europe, as well as Japan and the United States, are likely to suffer the largest deterioration in their public finances in the next four decades as more elderly strain social safety nets, S&P said in a report (Brandimarte and White, 1/31).