Again, Attack The Messenger!

Yesterday, a bomb was literally dropped on the Baucus Health Care Reform bill by the health insurance industry.

Price Waterhouse Coopers, an accounting/auditing firm, was commissioned by that industry to look at the Baucus bill and determine what the impact would be on future private insurance costs. Price Waterhouse determined that the Baucus Bill could result in an increased annual insurance cost of $4,000 for an average family of four by the year 2020 (Click to See Full Story: "Health-reform lemon").

Of course, the Democrats went crazy.

Rather than dispute the numbers themselves, the Democrats went after Price Waterhouse and the insurance industry.

First, they claimed the timing of the Waterhouse report was suspect; being released just prior to the Senate Finance Committee's vote on the Buacus proposal. Of course, the timing of the Waterhouse report doesn't actually make the findings of the report invalid; but, the Democrats would have you believe that.

Also, they tried to discount the findings by claiming that the insurance companies are intent on discrediting the Baucus bill because they want more profits than that bill would afford them. Again, those greedy insurance companies! However, the devil is in the details of the Price Waterhouse report, and this claim by the Democrats is just another political attempt to sidestep its real findings.

Finally, they claimed that Price Waterhouse doesn't have the credentials to calculate the effects of the Baucus bill because they aren't part of the health care industry. ( As if our Senate is all-knowing about the health care industry!) I am quite sure that Price Waterhouse has conducted audits for numerous health care and health care service companies and is quite qualified to analyze the results of the Baucus bill.

Aside from all this smoke and mirrors by the Democrats, the real fact is that no single Democrat was able to discredit the math that went into the findings of that report. All the Dems did is attack the messengers!

Price Waterhouse is an extremely reputable accounting firm. For them to put their name on a flawed study would be ridiculous because it could jeopardize their reputation as an auditing firm and that fact, alone, could easily undermine their business. Unlike politicians, an auditing firm's business is totally dependent on the truthfulness, the depth, and the accuracy of their reports. In the case of Price Waterhouse, that reputation has allowed them to be a firm who provides accounting services for hundreds of Fortune 500 companies and other well-known, worldwide businesses; both large and small.

So, who would you trust? A Congress that has historically low approval numbers and who is unable to garner any real trust from the American people; or, a trusted accounting firm that operates successfully in 150 countries and has been in business since 1849.

The Price Waterhouse report only confirms what most people in America already know and have said in many, many polls: The health care reforms that are being put forth by the Democrats will be expensive, provide less care, and result in higher taxes for everyone. This latest attack on Price Waterhouse is another effort by the Democrats to hide that imminent reality.