Does the National Health IT plan remind you of Social Security Reform?

A good overview article in Business Week (This Man Wants to Heal Health Care) describes David Brailer's efforts to use information technology to re-engineer the health care system. Efficiency will increase, costs will drop, and service levels will improve --or so we'd like to believe. The problem is that the expenditures are front loaded and the ultimate benefits quite uncertain and difficult to measure.Reading the article I was reminded of the proposed reform of Social Security. Somehow --it was never clear exactly how-- private accounts were going to close Social Security's long-term deficit. In the short term, though, it just meant borrowing massively to cover the cost of transitioning to the new program.Health care does have massive problems --worse than Social Security-- and information technology can help solve them. But the national program is no panacea and could easily turn into a nightmare.