The high cost of health care threatens to overwhelm the United States’ ability to pay for it–and yet the growth of the health care industry is the one bright spot on the country’s economic radar screen.

Huh?

When Peter Orszag, director of the Congressional Budget Office, testifies before the Senate Finance Committee at its health reform summit next week, we can be sure he will pound the drum he has been beating for more than a year: “The rising cost of health care represents the nation’s single most important long-term fiscal challenge.”

And yet the health care industry may be the economy’s savior, reports today’s Washington Post:

By 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts health-care employment to double the projected growth of all other industries combined.

“It’s one of those industries that doesn’t seem to be affected by economic downturn,” said Terry Schau, an economist at the bureau. “People get sick, and they’re going to need health care. The state of the economy may affect their ability to pay but not the demand.”