Henry Waxman in Wonderland

Henry Waxman said recently that the Health Care Reform Bill was “..designed to expand coverage and reduce costs”.

Really?

Does anyone believe that? Does he believe it?

At first it sounded very Lewis Carroll to me. After all, they are just words, he can determine their meaning in any way he likes.

But then a better analogy occurred to me. I was reminded of the classic Steve Martin movie from 1979, “The Jerk”. Mr. Martin, you might recall, played the title role, Navin Johnson. Navin was a hapless fellow who made good in spite of himself. Sort of Forrest Gump's predecessor.

Anyway, it turns out Navin has a flair for invention and makes a boatload of money. One day, on a thoughtful walk around his enormous pool, Steve Martin as Navin asks his financial advisers: “How much money do I have?”

To which they reply, “Well, we've done extensive calculations and we have determined that you are worth “X” amount”.

Navin says, “Hmm, “X” amount....very good”.

(I'm paraphrasing here, I'm too lazy to find the clip in the movie!)

I think that's what Waxman and others expect our response to their work to be - “Hmm, more for less.....very good”.

Only in this scenario, we're the jerks.....