Working Out of a Jam

First in an occasional series on efforts to reform health care.

President Barack Obama had been bringing the high heat all spring. He got Congress to pass a stimulus bill, got what he wanted for the auto industry and was baffling the opposition with his delivery.

But now Obama is in a jam over efforts to reform the nation's health care system. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., acknowledged the obvious Thursday, when he declared that the Senate would not meet Obama's Aug. 8 deadline for passage. As midterm elections loom, that task will get harder now.

Make no mistake, the American health care system must be fixed, and this is the federal government's best chance to do it. With premiums soaring, the cost of care rising unabated even amid a recession and 46 million people uninsured, the system is unsustainable.

But the bills now being debated do too little to control costs. The worst outcome would be a bill that raises taxes, broadens coverage but doesn't slow down the ascent of skyrocketing costs. That, too, would be unsustainable.

The current drafts of the legislation are flawed. Re-importation of drugs from Canada, which Obama favored, wouldn't be allowed. Drug makers would retain exclusive marketing rights to so-called biologic drugs for 12 years.

Obama had proposed seven years.

The government would get no new powers to negotiate prices with the drug industry. Taxing the most generous health care benefits, which could reduce spending, is off the table.

And while the much-debated public option could provide competition to private insurers, a government-run insurance program with the ability to benefit from taxpayer subsidies and to operate at a loss also could run them off. We're open to the idea of a public plan, but as an honest competitor.

The Congressional Budget Office, the official scorekeeper, says that the $1 trillion House bill would add $239 billion to the federal budget deficit over the next 10 years. The gap is mainly due to the elimination of cuts in Medicare payments to doctors that are planned under current law. Democrats argue that those cuts have been repeatedly postponed for years and weren't likely to occur so it's not fair to hold that against the bill. But that's like arguing that a pitch that goes to the backstop is a strike.

Congressional leaders need to bear down on costs, as the president is pressuring them to do. At his news conference this week, he backed creation of an independent group of doctors and medical experts to monitor Medicare spending. That's good, but more is needed. Otherwise, they all may be taking an early shower.

REPRINTED FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.

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