The Washington Post told us in reference to the debate over the health care bill that: "most troubling in the short term is how few in the caucus of 256 House Democrats understand the emerging 1,000-page bill." It doesn't tell us who this is "most troubling" to. Some of us might find it more troubling that the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry and other special interests give tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions to the members of Congress who are deciding the structure of health care. We may also find it more troubling that the country will spend an extra $3 trillion on prescription drugs over the next decade because of the patent monopolies that the government gives to drug firms and no one in Congress will even discuss more efficient mechanisms for financing drug research. We might also find it troubling that Congress refuses to discuss reducing the protectionist barriers that allow U.S. doctors to earn twice as much as doctors in other wealthy countries. It is interesting to know what the Post finds most troubling about the health care debate, but that piece of information belongs on the editorial page, not a front page news story.
--Dean Baker
