Never Too Late to Learn
Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt recently offered a statement to the press. Medicare, he claims, is in trouble. This is hardly news; federal officials have warned of a looming crisis for a couple of decades. One might fairly say the crisis is already upon us, and has been for some time. Horror stories of people denied treatment because the budget isn’t there are already daily news. There is no budget because it was raided to fuel military adventures, and to cover income lost to tax cuts for the rich, on a promise to recover the loss when the inevitable economic boom tax cuts create arrived. (Remember the promised economic boom? We’re in it right now. Kinda hard to tell, I realize.)
But stating that Medicare is currently screwed up, largely if not entirely by the current administration, is what they call a “politically untenable” position. Instead, Leavitt characterizes Medicare as “drifting towards disaster,” but reassures us that “The disaster is not inevitable. If we act now, we can change the outcome.” Most people would consider that good reason to act now. Leavitt, however, doesn’t think so.
In his estimation, it is already too late for the Bush administration to do anything about it. (The subject of what the Bush administration should have been doing, but pointedly failed to do, about it during its many years at the wheel, shockingly, did not come up.) Not that failing to do his own job, the job at hand, prevents him from attacking the opposition for inactivity on a job they currently have no control over. Never too late to stick the knife in, or to pass the blame. Apparently serene about his own office’s neglect, Leavitt is nevertheless troubled: “It troubles me that this matter is not receiving more attention in the presidential candidates’ discussions. The next president will have to deal with this in significant part.” We’re ignoring the crisis, so you should ask some hard questions of those up-and-coming candidates you see so much in the news; it’s all their fault. Going to have been their fault. Whatever.
Knowing it is already too late to do anything must come as a great comfort to the administration generally, and to Leavitt in particular. It’s nice to have an excuse to ignore a responsibility you’ve already decided to abandon.