Medicare - Part II

This sums up the problem of controlling Medicare costs in any rational manner - 

“A pox on both their houses,” said Ron Haskins, a former Congressional staff member who is now a scholar of social programs and budgeting at the Brookings Institution. Democrats and Republicans “know they have to do something about Medicare, and then they harass each other about cutting Medicare. It’s so discouraging to me, but I’m a Republican, so I’m much more distraught about Republicans.”

A good article on health care "pivots" (probably several basketball terms in this - - from double dribble to charging to dunking) in the New York Times.