It is one thing that the Obama administration decided not to try to pursue many proven cost-cutting solutions because they are too politically difficult; governing is the art of the possible. But pretending these proven cost-controlling ideas don’t even exist is governmental malpractice.If you trade away most of the cost controlling reforms to bring the different industries on board, you have no right to go around complaining when people say your reform plan does not do enough to control cost.

I was on a conference call with White House budget director Peter Orszag and Office of Health Reform chief Nancy-Ann DeParle today, and both of them were adamant that the health care reform moving through Congress would cut costs over the long term and “move us into the future of health care,” as Orszag put it.