On healthcare cost again

I highlighted in an earlier post that Robert Samuelson in an Op-Ed piece appeared to be laying the blame at the wrong people and about the wrong issue when it comes to the deficit problem.  I had gone on to point out that the real issue is that we have a massive redistribution problem from the young and healthy to the old and sick.  Current projections suggest that if medical costs continue to rise as they did until before the recession, these costs would be more than 85% of the total Federal budget.

Today Robert Samuelson has a piece in which he basically writes about the same issue that I was highlighting.  He points out that "In fiscal 2012, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and civil service and military retirement cost $1.7 trillion, about half the budget."

Samuelson then goes on to assign blame to both sides.  He blames the liberals for believing these benefits are sacrosanct, and the hypocritical conservatives, like Paul Ryan, whose "major Medicare proposal (in effect, a voucher) wouldn’t start until 2024. Most baby boomers escape meaningful benefit cuts. As Holzer and Sawhill fear, most of Ryan’s cuts affect programs for the poor."  He also points out that this isn't an issue that state and local governments can escape unscathed and that people unrealistically want cuts without cutting any of this spending.

He feels Obama should be using his bully pulpit to change the conversation.

I agree.