The hand-wringing over the cost of the proposed elimination of the Sustainable Growth Rate formula seems ridiculous in light of the fact that the problem has been well-known for years.

Congress has been refusing to deal with it for so long that no Congress member can escape responsibility for the thorny mess; all hands should be on deck, figuring out the smartest way to address this problem.

But we’re talking about Congress here, where “consensus” does not mean consensus. As reported in Los Angeles Times:

While there is consensus in Congress that the payment system should be fixed, Republicans and some conservative Senate Democrats have said they won’t support a bill that adds to the nation’s red ink. The proposed change would cost about $245 billion.

“They’re doing it so they can say their healthcare plan doesn’t add to the deficit,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday. “It’s a gimmick, and a transparent one at that.”