Congress tries to balance the four humors of Healthcare

Doesn't look like Sgt. Jim Crowley of the Cambridge PD will be hiring Prof Obama as his civil rights defense lawyer, but here are the most important lines from Barry's press conference tonight:

"In addition to making sure that this plan doesn't add to the deficit in the short term, the bill I sign must also slow the growth of health-care costs in the long run. Our proposals would change incentives so that doctors and nurses are free to give patients the best care, just not the most expensive care. That's why the nation's largest organizations representing doctors and nurses have embraced our plan."

and later on...

"I won't sign a bill that doesn't reduce health-care inflation so that families as well as government are saving money. I'm not going to sign a bill that I don't think will work."

The most important question in the healthcare reform debate: whether costs for medical procedures and care can be reduced.  The long-term inflation of all medical care is the true problem in American healthcare; writing a bill which addresses every issue but is Medieval medicine: a pseudo fix which might just kill the patient. If incentives can't be changed to get better quality instead of higher quantity and price from the medical system, more insurance coverage will mean higher costs and will make the reform impossible to pay for.  It will also contribute further to the destruction of Medicare and\or the federal deficit in the long run.  So far the CBO seems to be indicating costs won't be reduced and the Mayo Clinic (who has successfully controlled costs by giving their doctors salaries instead of paying them by the operation) has come out against the plan for this reason.   Perverse incentives are what have caused insurance premiums to double over the past ten years and costs to spiral out of control.  Its encouraging to see that the Dems know this is a major problem, its not encouraging that they don't have a comprehensive fix.  So far, its been about 'more information for patients', 'better coordination within the medical system' and other things legislation can't fix.  No one honestly thinks that creating online sources (WebMD?) will have everyone just pick that cheaper and more effective treatment they're doctor hid from them, suddenly slashing long-term Medicare costs.  But hey, not a bad idea for a new jobs program: mandate all adults to be certified MDs.