Facts Are Stubborn Things

[Clymer/JR]

There is no more hotly contested issue now than "healthcare reform". Like apple pie, everybody rallies around the concept, but there is striking division over what constitutes "healthy" reform. Beyond the arguments over the merits of the current bill (whatever that happens to be today), is the green eye-shade claim of deficit neutrality, something most people (for good reason) simply are not buying; they smell what is under the rug. Many peer right through the CBO flim-flam accounting for ten years of taxes, but only seven years of services. Perhaps more 'confounding' to bill proponents, however, is the recently released analysis from the executive branch's own CMS comptroller. The Washington Post reports on the dire consequences predicted by Rick Foster, Chief Actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It would appear that the more this bill is exposed to sunshine, the worse it looks. Sadly, the reform issue has devolved to a solely political debate rather than one of policy. Regardless of one's individual perspective, when 1/6 of the US GDP is at stake, a dose of honesty and transparency is just what the doctor is ordering!