See, that wasn't so hard

Ezekiel Emanuel and Jeffrey Liebman explain what I say here every couple of days, which is that "cutting" Medicare does not have to mean taking any actual benefits away from anybody. We can make a huge start by not wasting money on stuff that actually hurts people; then we can stop wasting money on stuff that doesn't do any good; and then we can stop wasting money on stuff that might do some good but so would much cheaper stuff. The only reason we don't do that is because every time we try, Republicans start yammering nonsensically about death panels.

As E&L point out, however, you can't really get there by micro-regulation. Actually I think they are a bit too dismissive of the possibilities of practice guidelines and formularies and whatnot, but they are right that restructuring the system to incentivize results rather than just doing stuff is essential.

What I don't get is why, when a) everybody who actually studies health policy knows this and b) these two guys can explain it in a simple and accessible way in a brief newspaper op ed, we don't have c) which is THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES CAN JUST FUCKING SAY IT! What is wrong with the man?

And oh yeah, Emanuel is his best friend Rahm's brother for crying out loud. Sheesh.