I guess we'll all see soon enough-- but these quotes make it sound a little different than what you're suggesting-- the "he" is Orszag:

The next step on health care, he said, is a set of “changes to Medicare and Medicaid to make them more efficient, and to start using those programs more intelligently to lead the whole health care system.”

With a growing body of research finding some practices more cost-effective than others, the program's reimbursement rules can be used to force changes at those hospitals — a sort of back door to health care reform.

“Medicare and Medicaid are big enough to change the way medicine is practiced,” he said.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/19017.html

I think that Obama understands the "entitlement crisis" as you do -- as a healthcare costs crisis. Evidence in his Friday Air Force One interview:

Some of these reforms don't cost money. They will still be heavy political lifts because there are philosophical arguments about how to approach it. Some of these problems are very complicated. Health care is a classic situation where it may cost money on the front end and save enormous money on the back end and what we're going to have to figure out is what can we do now to start getting that ball rolling, because the longer we put that off, the worse off we are financially. Medicare and Medicaid on their current trajectory cannot be sustained. And the only way I think we're going to fix it is if we see those two problems in the broader contest of bending the curve down on health care inflation....
I should add one more thing and that is a budget process that starts bending the deficit curve down. I think that all these goals are complementary.

Ambinder's precis is at
http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/obamas_to_do_list.php

Wisewon, that all seems compatible. Ezra's point was that Orszag wants us to separate the health stuff from SS, realize that SS doesn't need a big fix, and do health reform because that really needs to be done to control costs.

The stuff you quote is part of Orszag's plan for doing health reform.

The stuff you quote is part of Orszag's plan for doing health reform.

I dunno. I've made the point in the past that government should start with Medicare/Medicaid reform-- and the refrain back has always been-- Medicare can't do it alone, they're only part of the system. Ezra has been pretty direct on this point. It needs to be health reform, not Medicare reform.

We'll all see soon, but the quotes above sound a lot more like my vision-- start the fix with Medicare/Medicaid and the private insurers will follow-- than comprehensive reform. We'll see soon enough.

he is a good guy but he's not making the best argument in defense of social security. Baker and Geider et al argue there's no problem with Social Security- its funded for the next 40 years and NO benefit or tax adjustments are necessary to fix a problem that doesn't exist. Orszag and others will concede that SS has problems.

I'm more worried what Obama and the Democrats will compromise to get costs under control. I don't think they're eager to cut SS but how strong will they be in its defense if they consistently reinforce the conservative message that SS has problems?

Good post! Digby is all over this too. I really like Digby a lot more than I do Hamsher, but she's way off on this.

This is a way of attacking health care, and this is going to be a good thing. Obama did not come into office to cut Social Security. It's total nonsense.

Well, I have just one point that I hope you'll respond to. Orszag may see the problems in Social Security as minor when compared to health care, but that does not preclude him cutting Social Security benefits. In fact, the Diamond-Orszag plan calls for exactly that (even if the cuts are minor). So it's not a secret plan to cut Social Security -- it's a plan Orszag has advocated for.

It's important to squelch the talk about Social Security reform, instead of leaving the door open, as the statement does.

Otherwise it will intrude into the Medicare debate over and over and over.

Kill it as an issue and clear the field for the real fight.

Jaime says this politely, but I'll say it more directly - you're missing the point. All the stuff you're saying about his 11-dimensional chess strategy for dealing with the entitlements debate and how to frame it may be true and helpful, but we're still left with a guy who has committed to Social Security cuts. I don't think that's a good idea. Full stop. And you haven't responded to that but chose to change the subject to all the wonderful things he (may) do with the debate for the sake of health care reform. Saying he's a "good guy" on the side of the angels doesn't answer that either.

I think the average cut under the '05 Orszag plan was 9%, less for low income workers, and that is slowly folded in over 40 years. Getting the SS IOUs out of the general budget is to me the best kind of mitigation for any future hits on Social Security.

I think that Blue Dog 'grand bargain' commission was always BS, with Obama and Pelosi playing good cop/bad cop with the Blue Dogs. Obama says he'll consider Stupid Idea X, Pelosi says 'no freakin' way', Obama shrugs and says he tried and does what he and Pelosi wanted to do all along, move forward on healthcare as a separate issue.

ezra,

w/o approaching the specifics of your post, i sound the klaxxon here to alert every progressive to stop using the repubbblican meme of "entitlements." it plays into their hands that soc sec & medicare don't deserve to be left intact, and americans don't deserve to receive such retirement benefit supplements.

i post herewith en toto a comment i left a month or so ago on steve benen's wash monthly blog, now reproduced on mine:

steve, this is rather a tangent to the topic, but i think it's incumbent upon us progressive pundits to wrest away the concepts of medicare and social security from those who would incorrectly label them "entitlements."

they are not entitlements. they may be government programs, and a case can be made that they are closer to ponzi schemes than is good for the survival of said programs, but they are not "entitlements."

they are "investments." i've been investing in both social security and medicare since i entered the work force some 30 odd years ago, and i expect a return on my investment soon. i only hope that i get it.

however, letting people label them as "entitlements" also lets people imply that they are not things i and millions of americans have earned, and thusly are bound to be taken away on a moral basis, quite incorrectly, thus profiting the elite class.

and "entitlement," by webster's definition, is a "birth right." social security and medicare aren't doled out to people just for being born. they have to work and contribute, which doesn't sound to me like an entitlement.

in fact, the only "birth right" that has been dealt w/by the goverment as of late is the inheritance tax; "inheritance" by definition is a "birth right." and there also, the hardly-ever-right has successfully changed the nominclature to allow for changes that they profit from, ie, the inheritance tax, renamed the "death tax," has been drastically slashed, leaving tons of money for the folks that didn't have to do anything except outlive their parents, and depriving the goverment of a revenue stream.

i know that "entitlement" is now the cw term, and it's hard to talk about soc.sec. and medicare w/o using such nomenclature, but i beseech you to at least mention these ideas when using such labels.

we've got to close that overton window, and get people back into realizing that they have earned their soc.sec. and medicare, and so they'll fight harder to keep people (read: the elites) from taking it away from them.

next week: we tax incomes, not people...

Careful about criticizing Jane Hamsher -- you could end up like Salman Rushdie.

Uh oh -- too late!
http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/19/if-ezra-klein-really-wants-to-end-the-entitlement-scare-he-should-do-it/

There isn't a health care cost crisis there's a health INSURANCE cost crisis. Take out the marketing, profits and money spent denying coverage that was paid for and there's enough money to pay for the CARE.

BTW- the first step in SS "reform" should be for the biliaires to return 1.3 trillion that Bush gave them in 2001 and 2003- NOW.

http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/

[Obama] wasn’t a liberal. It looks like he is onboard with tinkering with Social Security. If I were him and actually *cared* about the economy, I would back away from Social Security reeeeal slllloow like. It’s not just a retirement fallback, it’s an insurance policy against risk. Without it, how many Americans in the past 6 decades wouldn’t have changed jobs or started their own businesses? There are too many short term thinkers with tunnel vision where social security is concerned. Social Security makes entrepreneurship and creativity possible.

But leave it to Obama to want to have a “fiscal responsibility” conference to discuss how we might cut benefits for those under 55. That would include yours truly who just lost a whopping amount in her 401K...how do we coordinate our messages with the people who scorned us last year but are having a case of buyer’s remorse now?

Hamsher is, and ever shall be, insane. I'm on board with constructive criticism from a progressive stance (the fabled 'bright line') of the Obama administration's policy approach; further, I'm pretty sure the president himself can take it, may even adapt and use some of it. Nice, huge step up, that.

But Hamsher (and Digby, and Aravosis, and maybe even the beloved Atrios) have yet to meet that change with any of their own. The rhetoric's much the same as it was in the Bush era, and wild speculation along the lines of 'this is how it will all go horribly wrong' is tiresome, at least.

So bravo, Ezra (and Benen, and Marshall, Drum, Yglesias, Silver, et al.) for stepping forward. In more ways than one.

And this: Hamsher's dirty rich, Hollywood-style. How frakkin' weird is that?

As a SS claims rep, what i think they need to do is first of all, get rid of the $255 death payment...you cannot bury someone with $255. Also, get rid of mothers/fathers benefits, after your kids are age 5, they should be in school, and YOU should be working. Why should an insurance program pay for benefits for a stay-at-home mom after her kids are in school? THere are way too many programs (many, subsidized in obama's stimulus plan) that allow a mother to work without paying for childcare. Not to mention the pell grants, the guam bridges, the extra $250 every Social Security Beneficiary will get in may 2009...Just think about the children , lol

Skippy,
i hear you.
I too feel fearful that hardworking americans will not get their due. You payed into the program, it IS an insurance program, and you are entitled.

I feel worse for myself, projections say that i will either not get ss or will get very limited benefits. I hope that the President does not hide these comments.

I do not know how he cannot, we are printing fake money. People are jumping on the bandwagon for free sh**. Good luck everyone.

free shit

I haVe a problem with men perfectly capable of physical labor, coming in to my office and saying they have mental problems, then adding mental, "becuz they cant support their kids"

i have a problem with people coming into our office, wanting benefits, and stating that they remember nothing, they are too depressed (after someone nudges them in the arm or back. I hAve a problem with people who fake disabilities, when there are many people out there, with disabilites, who cant get hired.

I have a problem with a president who is handing everything to everyone who does nothing. I have worked with coworkers who are blind, had ms, etc. If you have a good work ethic, you will inevitally get a good job. I have a problem with stimulus packages that just distribute the wealth. Do we live in a Socialist country? If not, find your niche, Obama. Please do. The Majority of the Intelligent U>S> is not too happy. We may just (or maybe just me) quit working so that we dont subsidize everyone else. I do not mind helping others, i donate to the united way federal campaign. But i do feel distress when forced to support your uninformed economic policies.

How is Predident Obama going to pay for all this Social Security Reform? I dont think he is going to pay out of his own pocket. Despite what people said on the campaign trail, his wife's clothes were expensive...i mean i don't spend more than like 30 bucks on a shirt. She was shopping at higher end stores. I don't understand the affinity that people felt...nevermind , that is water under the bridge..

I DO have a problem with a party that has been crying about their lack of bipartisonship, for the last 8 yrs, then fails to take anyone other than 3 republicans who voted for their bill, into consideration. The Dems are going down, after this long 4 yrs. I may not be here, good luck to you all .

And i love Skippy, the truth teller

Geoff,
Listen to this...
When you get auto insurance coverage, it is intended to compensate you (or the person you hit) for an accident, something you never expected to happen.
You do not expect your car insurance to pay for oil changes , car washes, etc)
Nonetheless, we in America expect not just catastrophic care, but our physicals, paid for. That is where healthcare went wrong....insurance is not for incidentals, it is for accidentals. We have failed, not just in healthcare, but in every thing that is financial/economic in our country. Most voted on hope, good luck with all that.

I anm scared to death, i am quitting my job tomorrow ( maybe someone who actually wants to work, in the obama era , can get my job)
I am hoping so, just trying to keep hope alive! Good luck all, I work in Mpls

Hamsher says she "likes" EK and thinks he's "smart" -- but alas, he's sold out
his principles for "access."

Alas indeed, poor Hamsher -- she'd sell every "principle" she has for so much as a lottery ticket at "access," if only she could find one.

aNonymous, next year, vote for DR. Ron PaUL

aNonymous, next year, vote for DR. Ron PaUL

Matt,
the perceived problems with Social Secuirty are not made up...there is a very real danger. Maybe all that get stimulus payments, should save them till age 65? O, Messiah, is the saviour of all!

I hAve a sON GOING TO FederAL prison for hacking. I haVE a very short fuse when it comes to parents chastising me, so please dont.

the major problem i have is the direction this country is taking, is anyone willing to stick their neck out? get rid of BIG Government...i will donate.

anonymous, i hope you are not the only one with buyer's remorse....i hope the rest of the country is just as responsible.

orszag? I have no clue what you are talking about..I just know that SS is very low staffed. we get lots of complaints, because there are not enough people to manage the phones. Many of us, who are not teleservice representatives, get many calls from people we dealt with many years ago. We have had decreased staff, and our office is very specialized, (imagine the red tape every year). Despite that SS has continued to have a huge presence in online applications. Our agency is constantly striving forward to accomodate those we serve. Our agency has made alot of internet modifications and changes to make filing for benefits easier for both the claimant and the representative.

Ezra, have you been called out yet over in JaneWorld for wanting a pony?

That's up next, prob'ly.

The FDL princess and her devoteds don't LIKE it when she's questioned. Best part is her smirk-laden delivery.

Yeah, boys, you tell Ezra how brave he is by speaking truth to power, and you smack 'ol Jane down with the transcendent reality that Social Security must be cut because the benefits go to the undeserving. Remind me, again, Ezra and the folks at TAPPED are the liberals, right? And you as well? Somehow I keep forgetting.

If Ezra is right, fine. If he is NOT right......I will starve.
Somehow, I didn't catch the starvation part in Obama's message of hope.

By the way, just exactly WHY is the government fixated on SS right now, when there are certainly bigger fish to fry? OMB sez SS will be solvent into the '50's of this century.
Bush already cut medicare/medicaid to the bone. If Obama's team want to fix THEM and use them as guidelines for healthcare reform, fine. Just get private insurance that Bush gave them away to OUT OF THERE!

Social Security is NOT an "entitlement" we paid for it. The boomers paid double since Reagan. You wanna put it in this wonderful daily collapsing Wall Street mess? Do it on your own damn time. Leave me our of it. I can barely get by as it is.
I hope everyone here is healthy because if you're not, yo know America's "healthcare" system is collapsing, mostly due to the insurance companies taking such a large bite of the pie.

It's been sickening to watch, from the inside, programs which were fine under Clinton, destroyed under Bush's watch.

Well, everything went south so I guess this was bound to also. You people who don't like Social Security and healthcare for adults? Who's gonna take care of all the nice little children if mommy gets sick?

There is nothing "liberal" about ignorant fear-mongering. That's what the rightards do.

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