The Media Isn't Well-Informed Enough to Inform Us

I just sat through John King on CNN asking Sen. Joe Lieberman whether Obama should abandon his universal coverage plan for the moment and stick to "cheaper" insurance reform proposals that would show his commitment to "bring[ing] down the cost curve." Lieberman, unsurprisingly, said yes.

But here's the problem: the insurance reform proposals that King suggested Obama should deal with wouldn't bend the cost curve. Stopping private companies from refusing people based on pre-existing conditions, for instance, is not going to bring costs down. Care under such a proposal will cost the same amount, since you're just adjusting insurance regulations, and bringing in folks with pre-existing conditions by itself will only raise premiums by forcing companies to take on more risk.

Now, keep in mind that "the cost curve" refers to the present trajectory of health care spending in this country, which, without reform, is set to bankrupt us all before too long. That's an entirely different thing than the cost of the bill, which only includes short term spending over the next decade or so. It'd be great if we could have a low costing bill that bent the cost-curve, but we almost certainly can't - and bending that curve is so important that a high-costing bill would be well worth it.

But, essentially, John King asked Sen. Lieberman whether Obama should show his commitment to bending the cost curve by not doing the things that would bend it. Presumably because he was confused about what "the cost curve" means.

It's really no surprise that our nation is so confused about this issue, now that I think about it.