There is so much political spin, and so many numbers games being played, when it comes to medical care, that we have to go back to square one and the simplest common sense, in order to get some rational idea of what government-run medical care means. In particular, we need to examine the claim that the government can "bring down the cost of medical care."

Well, just to show that spending, like death, never takes a holiday in Washington, D.C., members of the House of Representatives interrupted their summer recess to return to the Capitol for a day and pass what was termed an “emergency” jobs bill. Oops, there goes another $26 billion.