Half done on health reform

David Broder's column in the Washington Post defines the conventional wisdom in Washington. He relaibly reflects what the Inside the Beltway crowd think about politics, and even he is acknowledging that the numbers used to justify the House-approved health care bill don't add up.

But, as many sympathetic voices have been telling them: Unless you find more realistic ways of paying for the promises included in the bill, you are simply setting up the public for more frustration -- and yourselves for a political backlash.

At least a dozen health and budget experts have filled the Web and the airwaves with warnings that the House bill simply postpones the cost controls needed to finance the vast expansion of insurance coverage and Medicaid benefits envisaged by its sponsors.