Media Gobbles Up CBO’s Suspect Health Care Prognostications
“In CBO’s judgment, the probability is high that no savings would be realized … but there is also a chance that substantial savings might be realized.”
That was the CBO’s lead in to their analysis about the Independent Medical Advisory Council that Dems want to add to the health legislation in order to keep health care costs in check. Of course it’s the CBO’s job to make sure people aren’t playing fast and loose with the facts, but they note no actual probability…just that it’s most likely high.
Come on…how is that a responsible, objective position?
Moreover, why is the media couching this as if it’s a deathblow to health care reform? Because while most of them titled this is such a way to make it seem as if the CBO’s numbers were iron clad, you’ll note later on in the report that the CBO also goes on to the point that savings in the long term could be substantial…or moderate…or probably moderate…or probably substantial.
Hrmm…
Here’s the thing…I thought we were talking about health care reform here.
If that’s the case, shouldn’t we be looking at the long term?
Folks, it took us 50 years to get into this mess, it might take us 20 or more to get us out. So this Republican and fiscal conservative obsession with short term costs seems to be nothing but political, especially when few of those same folks in the last 8 years cared about upping the Pentagon’s budget, not counting any of the Iraq/Afghanistan costs and giving people tax cuts during war time. I find it disingenuous at best, especially when we all know that the health care problems absolutely needs to be fixed or else it’ll just be more costly next year, the year after that, etc.
To put it another way, who here thinks we can reform health care in the short term and get immediate savings? Raise your hand. Tell us how. Because everybody is all ears.
By the way, some are calling this Independent Medical Advisory Council akin to “Big Brother.” (thanks CNN)
Well, first off, we already have something like this for Medicare and Medicaid. It’s called the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, but it doesn’t have any authority to impose its ideas so few of their proposals ever get adopted. This new council would actually have some teeth.
Second, you want to know who proposed this? The Mayo Clinic. Hardly a “big brother” institution.
But hey, it’s fun to label things with scary, Orwellian terms. It sells more papers, gets more viewers…cha-ching!
Honestly, I’m just getting angry at this point. Few seem interested in getting health care reform passed and then doing the necessary work over the next few years to continue to tweak it before it truly goes into effect. They want this thing to be a perfect bill that saves money immediately and covers everybody on day one, and they know damn well there’s not a chance in hell of that happening. And that includes the media.
Here’s the question: Is it in the media’s best interest to scuttle health care?
(Photo: Reuters via Daylife)
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I’m not entirely sure how the media could have avoided covering the latest CBO report issued yesterday. They can hardly pretend it isn’t there. To your point, they might do a better job of pointing out that there is much involved in reducing health care costs that are not “scoreable” and ,therefore, not taken into consideration when coming up with CBO numbers.
And, just to set the record straight, the Mayo Cllnic did not “propose” the independent Medicare office – but they did endorse it.
As for the remainder of your points we, for the most part, agree.
Much of this has to do with how you view legislation. Massachusetts is providing us with a perfect opportunity to see how this works…or doesn’t work, depending on what you think. A few years back, Mass. created a universal health care system. They did so fully aware of the fact that they would face serious financing challenges down the road. Their decision was to do what they thought was right and deal with the consequences as they went. Now, they are facing those consequences and having to face the issue of lowering costs. But, what makes them different, is the fact that they don’t have the option of forcing more people to go without insurance. Therefore, they are forced to come up with real solutions to the cost side of the equation. I like that, I think this is something we should be thinking about on the national stage. Let’s do the right thing and then grapple with the consequences as we move down the road.
Hi Rick,
Fair enough about Mayo not necessarily proposing it, but here’s the wording from the article, “policy proposal that Mayo has long pushed for”
Proposed…long pushed for…tomato…
As far as the other points, yep, agreed. I’m just getting frustrated right now and I’m fearful that health care reform will simply die on the vine because of lazy reporting such as this.
Justin-
In response to another comment. See in context »Your frustration is clearly warranted. But we all have to hang in, keep as much pressure on our elected officials as we can (especially if we live in states with reps. and senators who are a problem). This is far from over, one way or another. I very much hope Obama will toughen up on the message. He needs to do what Republicans do – scare the crap out of people as to what is going to happen in their future if we don’t reform this system. And he won’t be lying! As I say, this is far from over.