EJ Dionne's column today, as usual, is good, but one thing kinda bugged me: No. 1: Extending President Bush's tax cuts to eternity will make the long-term problem much worse. Hint No. 2: The hardest part will be how -- simultaneously -- to meet the fiscal need to rein in health costs and the social need to get health insurance to everyone. Hint No. 3: Most Democrats don't like to talk about it, but somebody's taxes are going to have to go up. He sets up the "social need" for universal health insurance in tension to the "fiscal need" to rein in health costs, but I'm not so sure that's the right relationship. As I tried to write yesterday, there's some evidence that a greater role for the government would help bring down health care costs across all sectors in the long term. Anyway, I confess my ignorance of the mechanisms involved here. But doesn't this seem like the perfect silo-crossing issue? It'd be nice if health care wonks helped us ignorant budget wonks understand this aspect of universal coverage better. The best I can do is put Jacob Hacker's summary of the argument for cost-containment after the jump.