Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Health “Reform’s” Long-Term Costs

Wanted to bring to your attention David Brooks’ column in this morning’s New York Times, where he criticizes the Democrat majority’s fiaxation on expanding health care coverage to the virtual exclusion of measures to control costs — “there is almost nothing that gets to the core of the problem.”  He adds that “health care reform is important, but it is not worth bankrupting the country over.”  It’s very interesting that a columnist favorably inclined to Obama and much of his agenda is now publicly opining that “if this process goes as it’s been going — with grand rhetoric and superficial cost containment – then we will be far better off killing this effort and starting over in a few years.”

On a related note, this morning’s Wall Street Journal has a column outlining concerns by state Governors that they will not be able to afford the cost of Medicaid expansions — which would be a significant increase in state fiscal obligations at a time when many states cannot afford the Medicaid populations they have now.  That article can be found here.