Told Ya So...

Earlier this week, referring to the President's "vision" of health care reform, I observed that "(h)istorically, too, such programs inevitably outgrow their initially estimated size (cf: Medicare), and become cures which are worse than the underlying disease. Thus, a big problem becomes an even bigger one, with little hope of slowing down."

Lo and behold:

"Orszag [director of the White House Office of Management and Budget] described the $634 billion the administration built into the new budget over the next 10 years -- as a “down payment” for health reform." [emphasis added]

But of course.

Far-reaching programs such as this always grow, whether by design or implementation.

And of course, no such program would be complete without its backers conflating health care with health insurance: e.g. "(r)educing premiums and other health-care costs."

Sheesh!

As our own Mike Feehan observed in the comments in a recent post:

"The difference between health care and health insurance is not mere semantics and it is not hair splitting. It's a difference that truly makes a difference.

The economic law of demand says that price and demand reach equilibrium at some point.

The more billions the government pours into subsidizing health insurance, the higher health insurance prices can go before reaching equilibrium with demand."

I certainly can't improve on that.