Actuary denies delaying report

The Chief Medicare Actuary, Richard Foster, called "completely inaccurate" a report that the Department of Health and Human Services buried a report on health care in the days before a crucial vote.

"Consistent with the Office of the Actuary's longstanding independent role on behalf of Congress, we did not seek approval or clearance from HHS (or anyone else) before issuing our analysis," he said in response to a question from POLITICO.

The report in the American Spectator has gained some traction on the right, but First Read's close look at the timeline suggests the report would have been unlikely to make it out in time for the passage of the legislation.


Foster backs up that reporting, and his denial carries a good deal of weight: He's an independent figure who testified, damagingly, in 2004 that the Bush Administration had -- in not dissimilar circumstances -- delayed the publication of a report on the cost of the Medicare prescription drug plan; last year, he delivered a report on Medicare cuts that sharply challenged the Obama Administration's claims that they were holding senior citizens harmless in health care legislation.


Regardless of whether the report was buried and delayed or not, the report CONFIRMS many people's belief that President Obama and the Democrats purposely misled the American public about the true cost of Healthcare Reform legislation! This issue is not right vs., left, liberal vs. conservative, Democrat vs. Republican; it is an issue of TRUTH, HONESTY, and CORE VALUES. How many professional politicians in our country adhere to those items? When Republicans held power in both house of Congress and the White House, they were no better at being honest with America than Democrats are now. The true ambition of both parties is to maintain the power, not the interest of the people.