That PwC Report on Healthcare Costs

The Providence Journal headline was "Insurance lobbyists take the gloves off," and the AP report above which it appeared cast the story in terms of the political battle, as if it is immaterial and unknowable whether a study issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers is accurate:

The firm's study projected that the legislation would add $1,700 a year to the cost of family coverage in 2013, when most of the major provisions of the Baucus bill would be in effect.

Premiums for a single person would go up by $600 more than would be the case without the legislation, it estimated.

In 10 years' time, premiums would be $4,000 higher for a family plan, and $1,500 more for individual coverage.

From the voter/consumer perspective, this is a bit like watching two giants wrestle over who gets to eat more of us. Neither of them is interested in measures that would actually set us free or in our desire to explore the marvelous facilities that they've promised will be found in their belies. So, put the article aside and refer back to it, in a decade, so we'll know whom it is we hear saying "I told you so" as we're digested.