Obama Already Lowering Expectations

Since he began the health care crusade, Obama has been reiterating that once the ink dries, Americans will start to see their premiums and pharmaceutical costs drop. In his radio address this week he was much less specific, saying, "But what every American should know is that once I sign health insurance reform into law, there are dozens of protections and benefits that will take effect this year." In his speech today in Iowa, Obama once again, famously, shifted his rhetoric to reflect the actual contents of the bill. In other words, he scaled WAY back on promises to bring immediate change:

Now, it will take about four years to implement this entire plan – because we need to do it responsibly and we need to get it right. That means that health care costs won’t go down overnight. But we have built into the law all sorts of measures to assure that in years to come, health care inflation, which has been rising about three times as fast as people’s wages, will start slowing. We’ll start reducing the waste in the system, from unnecessary tests to unwarranted insurance subsidies. So over time, Americans will save money.

Is anyone surprised? He, even more than most politicians, has a knack for the "What? I've said that all along." So, what is the real truth? None of the major provisions providing coverage take place until 2014 except the provisions barring insurers from denying children with preexisting conditions coverage and the provision closing the "doughnut hole" on Medicare prescriptions (whatever the hell that means).