Today's OpEds: Congressional dealmaking, cutting 'honchos pay,' controlling costs

Congressional Deals: Watching The Sausage Making Politico
Legislators need pork to make things happen, especially in an age when chronic obstruction has so weakened the legislative process that policy breakthroughs are almost impossible. This does not excuse all kinds of deal making, nor should we ignore that deals sometimes go too far (Julian E. Zelizer, 3/10).

Health Care Reform's Sickeningly Sweet Deals The Washington Post
Skipping through the Candy Land of the health-care bill, one is tempted to hum a few bars of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart." What a deal. For dealmakers, that is. Not so much for American taxpayers, who have been misled into thinking that the sweetheart deals have been excised. ... Regardless of what the CBO reports in the coming days, no one can claim the bill is as lean as it could be (Kathleen Parker, 3/10).

Sick Over The Health Honchos' Pay The Seattle Times
Controlling doctor and hospital bills is going to be the toughest challenge. Because it means eventually we'll all have to do something as Americans we're not very good at: Accept less. To get the hang of that, I vote we start with the guys getting the million-dollar bonuses (Danny Westneat, 3/9.)

Bending The Cost Curve - With A Crowbar The American Spectator
Having failed to excite the majority of American about covering 30 million of their fellow citizens at the expense of jeopardizing their own medical care, the Obama Administration has settled on an even more implausible reform argument -- extending these benefits will lower medical costs (William Tucker, 3/10).

Medicine In The Dark The Los Angeles Times
As medical science advances, clinical decision-making will only become more complex. Only by expanding public funding for comparative effectiveness research can we hope to put existing medical treatments and healthcare services to their best use. Doing so would ensure that national research priorities are determined by patient needs rather than by corporate agendas (Michael Hochman and Danny McCormick, 3/10).