The Cost of Doing Something.

The struggle over national health care is consuming vast amounts of time and energy in Washington. Congressmen, aides, staff, and the White House have all put countless hours and untold effort into drafting and redrafting health care legislation. Considerable amounts of time have been put into debating the issue, making speeches, and issuing press reports. Obama and leaders in Congress have time and again warned the public about the costs of doing nothing. They make a good point.

There are at the moment over 1,000 different pieces of legislation before Congress. Some of them are important. There is the Cybersecurity Act. There is the Food Safety Modernization Act. There are bills concerning immigration reform, credit card reform, and mortgage reform. There are bills concerning the environment and clean water. There are also two conflicts we are at the moment fighting in the Middle East. There is the growing tension with Iran. There is increasing friction with China. And, of course, there is the struggling economy.

Despite the persistent and strident rhetoric in Washington about the costs of doing nothing, the issue of health care reform is not simply a question about doing something or doing nothing. The government has many things to do. It is a question about persisting to the point of obsession to push health care reform into law or doing something else. As for the costs, we have a pretty good idea what the cost of passing health care will be: $1 trillion. The cost of not passing it will be considerably less.

There is an election later this year which could go a long way towards resolving the dispute. The issue is not going to go away. The country might very well be better off if Washington can find other things to do in the meantime.