A Senator “tries to allay fears”?

You gotta be kidding me. We ought to be far more afraid of what the pariahs in Washington do than anything else in the news this year.

Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) doesn’t like the Baucus bill.

The Baucus bill (along with HR3200) cuts the projected growth in Medicare by $4-500 billion over the next 10 years. Senator Nelson is afraid of one part of the biils, the one that cuts Medicare payments to insurance companies providing Medicare Advantage policies. That’s about $40 billion over those 10 years.

Cutting government spending is a good thing, right?

Adding (or keeping) government spending is a bad thing, right?

Not so fast.

The pariahs of Washington have balanced the Health Care Takeover by cutting the one place (Medicare) that already shifts some 75% of the cost of health care to Somebody Else. Cutting another $40 or $50 billion out of Medicare sounds like a great plan. Until you notice that it is the usual political sleight of hand. Cutting another $40 or $50 billion out of Medicare just shifts some $40 or $50 billion more of the cost of health care to Somebody Else.

I fear being Somebody Else.

Allay allay in free.

Senator Nelson is right not like the Baucus bill. But he is right for the wrong reasons.