Ross Douthat, the New York Times' new conservative columnist, says:

In this future, somebody will need to stand for the principle that Medicare can’t pay every bill and bless every procedure. Somebody will need to defend the younger generation’s promise (and its pocketbooks). Somebody will need to say “no” to retirees.

That’s supposed to be the Republicans’ job. They should stick to doing it.

From the Friday Hancock column:

"We don't have unlimited resources to spend on health care," says Dr. Sean Tunis, head of the Center for Medical Technology Policy in Baltimore. "And we're already neglecting other important social needs because there's simply not enough money."

Republicans are supposed to get this. They're supposed to be the party that understands waste, limits, cost/benefit trade-offs and what happens when you let people (patients and doctors) spend somebody else's money (insurance companies' and taxpayers').

These days they sound like their own caricature of a Democrat, pretending that resources are endless, that everybody gets what they want and that measuring efficiency is the same as euthanasia.

Modern health care needs administration, priorities, choices and direction. It needs the best information on what works and what doesn't. Hysteria that blocks such information hurts patients, taxpayers and especially future taxpayers - our poor grandchildren who will get stuck with most of the bill.