WASHINGTON — In one of the final columns published before his death last Sunday, speechwriter and language maven William Safire wrote about the sudden popularity of the phrase “bending the curve” within the political vernacular, especially in the health care rhetoric.
The expression is a favorite of Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., whose Finance Committee is the current locus of the health care tug-of-war.
Channeling Baucus as well as the conservative Safire, 10 freshman Senate Democrats appeared on the floor of the Senate Thursday morning to offer their thoughts about health care reform — with “bending cost curves” turning up frequently .
“We must have reform that bends the cost curve,” said Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, “and slows down the growth of health care costs.”
Other “bending the cost curve” aficionados were Sens. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., the day’s opening speaker and emcee of the proceedings.
In his piece, Safire explained the attractiveness of the expression as a byproduct of the public’s obsession with graphic interpretations.
“Language is in the grip of graphs,” Safire said, adding that “words about graphs are worth a thousand pictures.”
Standing in front of a graph comparing Colorado wage growth rates with the growth rates of insurance premiums, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., emphasized the importance of lowering costs through bipartisan reform.
“It’s time for us to put politics aside and come to an agreement,” Bennet said. “The status quo is eating people alive all over this country.”
Of the 10 freshman senators, five employed graphs or charts to make their points.
Safire also wrote that “the use of words about graphs and poll trends takes us steps away from reality.”
But, stepping back from graphic representations, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., talked about the importance of prevention and nutrition in curbing rising health insurance costs.
Gillibrand also spoke about the substantial “hidden cost in American health care,” namely paying for emergency treatment for uninsured Americans, and called for the digitization of health care documents as well as a switch to simpler insurance forms as ways to improve the system.
“We are engaged in a historic debate,” Gillibrand said, “and the [health care] crisis has reached historic proportions.”
Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., moved the conversation closer to reality, emphasizing that the money spent on treating preventable diseases – such as diabetes – that plague many blacks is “a cost our country cannot bear.”
Important points were brought up Thursday morning. But in terms of making original statements regarding health care reform, the 10 freshman senators said little to “bend the curve” toward fresh territory.