No Excuse For Dems' Sticker Shock On Health Care
By Michael Barone
June 29, 2009
Page 2 of 2
There are two more general problems, one of which Elmendorf spotlights: "Studies attribute the bulk of cost growth to the development of new treatments and other medical technologies," and so "reducing or slowing spending over the long term would probably require decreasing the pace of adopting new treatments and procedures or limiting the breadth of their application." If you pay less, you get less.
Second, and perhaps beyond the ambit of a data-driven CBO director, is the more general observation that the cost projections for government-run programs like Medicare and Medicare tend to come in low, while the cost projections for programs involving private-sector competition like the 2003 Medicare prescription drug benefit have turned out to be high.
Private-sector competition produces efficiencies and innovations that government bureaucracies almost never produce and can seldom keep up with. As Democrats scamper to reduce the projected costs of their health care bills, the rest of us might want to keep that in mind.
Michael Barone is senior political analyst for The Washington Examiner.
---
COPYRIGHT 2009 THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.
--------------------
Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA. >> Back -- Page 1 2
++ Discuss this topic in The Forum
Current rating:  5.0 out of 5.0 (7 total votes)
| 
