The White House has pointedly refused to say whether President Obama will read the 1,000+ page health care bill–HR3200–now pending before the House of Representatives. If Obama does read the bill, he will find it full of densely technical terminology and proposals that were clearly constructed by experts who have toiled in the Schools of Medicine and Public Health and professional societies on their way to work in advocacy organizations, congressional offices, or lobbying shops. The authors of this bill have obviously studied health care policy, but it’s doubtful any of them have actually run a health care enterprise.

Within the bill there are an impressive number of pilot programs and demonstration projects that would make significant changes to health care delivery and payment methods. They have received very little attention from the public or the press, but these pilot projects will clear the way for major government intervention in the actual delivery of health care. The proposals are aimed specifically at controlling the cost of care at the level of individual patients and are very likely to become the very substance of our health care system, which will be completely dominated by the federal government.