Health Care - From the St Louis Tribune

Health care bills do nothing to lower costs, some experts say

"There are no provisions to substantively control the growth of costs or raise the quality of care. So the overall effort will fail to qualify as reform," Dr. Jeffrey Flier, the dean of the Harvard Medical School, wrote in The Wall Street Journal on Nov. 18. "In discussions with dozens of health care leaders and economists, I find near unanimity of opinion that, whatever its shape, the final legislation that will emerge from Congress will markedly accelerate national health care spending rather than restrain it."

Now everyone work with me as we go slowly through the crushingly obvious - the bill is almost entirely about health insurance not health care! Stunningly, notwithstanding the facts, to wit US health care cost are higher than other first world nations and our results poorer, we've focused our health care reform on insurance coverage and regulation of insurance practices.  So is there any reason we should expect any impact on cost when our apparently bought and paid for congress all but completely ignores them.  Reality and common sense need not visit congress.