Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, in the midst of repeating all his answers from Tuesday, yesterday plunged into the congressional health care debate to an unusual degree for the Federal Reserve, saying a national health care program that doesn’t cut costs isn’t worth doing.
Bernanke’s Senate-side repeat of his semiannual report to Congress prompted all the same questions already dealt with at length by House members, but his health care remarks stood out as a clear message that the plan the Obama administration wants this month is about more than health care.
Having resisted being steered into declarations on a number of issues, Bernanke enthusiastically joined with Sen. Evan Bayh, the Democrat from Indiana whose own view is that most of the health care debate is missing the most important point.
“If we enacted a health care that did not bend the curve [of spending], that wouldn’t really meet the long-term fiscal challenges that we’re facing, in your opinion, would it?” Bayh said.
“If it did not address the cost issue it would not meet the challenge,” Bernanke said.
“So, if all we did was even pass a health care bill that was deficit-neutral — didn’t make things worse but didn’t make it better fiscally over the next 10 years — that really doesn’t get to the heart of the problem either, does it?” Bayh said.
“That’s correct,” Bernanke said.
— Market News International
