Marathon Pundit: Health care leaders says Obama overstated cost savings

Friday, May 15, 2009

Health care leaders says Obama overstated cost savings

The overriding theme of the policies of the Barack Obama administration is that more government is good.

A sub theme is that more government won't cost that much. The New York Times (gasp!) and the Washington Post were skeptical when they reported Tuesday on the the alleged savings promised by the administration.

The New York Times chimes in again:

After meeting with six major health care organizations, Mr. Obama hailed their cost-cutting promise as historic.

"These groups are voluntarily coming together to make an unprecedented commitment," Mr. Obama said. "Over the next 10 years, from 2010 to 2019, they are pledging to cut the rate of growth of national health care spending by 1.5 percentage points each year — an amount that’s equal to over $2 trillion."

Health care leaders who attended the meeting have a different interpretation. They say they agreed to slow health spending in a more gradual way and did not pledge specific year-by-year cuts.

"There's been a lot of misunderstanding that has caused a lot of consternation among our members," said Richard J. Umbdenstock, the president of the American Hospital Association. "I've spent the better part of the last three days trying to deal with it.”