Health care cost containment

Last week there was a flurry of news about health care stakeholders voluntarily agreeing to cut costs by 1.5% annually. Turns out they are now accusing Obama of overstating their commitment. “There’s been a lot of misunderstanding that has caused a lot of consternation among our members,” said Richard J. Umbdenstock, the president of the American Hospital Association. “I’ve spent the better part of the last three days trying to deal with it" quotes Robert Pear in the Times article (link below)

My guess is Obama's crew knew exactly what they were doing, trying to extract a commitment thinking that these stakeholders would not want to back on it in public. But when these trade groups' members freaked, they had no choice.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/health/policy/15health.html?ref=health