To Cut Deficit, Rein in Health Costs: Orszag

Budget director makes White House's case for cutting expenses
By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 15, 2009 10:35 AM CDT
To Cut Deficit, Rein in Health Costs: Orszag
Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., talks with Dr. Mark Anderson while touring a cardiology research lab before speaking about his health care plan on Tuesday, May 29, 2007.   (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

With the future of Medicare and Social Security in the headlines, the Obama administration is jumping at the chance to push its health care reform agenda. Up today: budget director Peter Orszag. "Slower growth rate in overall health-care spending would help to promote and sustain a slowdown in Medicare and Medicaid spending, too," Orszag writes in the Wall Street Journal.

Orszag makes his case with relatable examples—"families across America who have health insurance are seeing their take-home pay reduced and their household budgets strained"—and argues, "there appear to be significant opportunities to reduce health-care costs over time without impairing the quality of care or outcomes." He concludes bluntly: "We need to undertake comprehensive health-care reform, and the president is committed to getting that done this year."
(More Peter Orszag stories.)

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