Budget to kick off health care rewrite - Ben Smith - Politico.com

Budget to kick off health care rewrite - Ben Smith - Politico.com: "Orszag*, at 40 the youngest member of the Obama cabinet, left a profound mark on the stimulus, which focused heavily on healthcare technology, a major focus of his research. He and his deputy, Rob Nabors brokered a key, late deal on spending on school construction, a Democratic aide said.

And the bill spends more than $1 billion on Orszag’s pet cause, research on the effectiveness of medical practices, which he sees as an opening to reforming American health care through sheer analytical will. ....The push to use changes to Medicare and Medicad reimbursement rates won’t come without a fight. Critics see the call for efficiency as easier said than done, and largely a smokescreen for simply saving money for cutting federal payments to doctors and hospitals.

“Some of it will look kind of reformish,” said James Capretta, an associate director of OMB in President George W. Bush’s first term, “but they’re going to go after the provider community in a big way."

* New head of OMB, previous director of the Congressional Budget Office