Bloomberg’s Caroline Baum has a great column on ObamaCare. It leads off with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s oft‐​repeated remark, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”


Truer words were never spoken. Heck, ObamaCare gives HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius so much arbitrary power to reshape the health care sector that Congress had to pass the law so that Pelosi could find out what is in it.


Baum explains why such discretionary power is dangerous:

Discretion may be the better part of valor, but it’s not something businesses can rely on for planning purposes. Corporations are already hunkered down because of (take your pick) weak demand, hurt feelings as a result of presidential persecution, or uncertainty over future health‐​care costs and tax rates. It won’t help business confidence to learn the HHS secretary can make and break rules on a case‐​by‐​case basis.


“The secretary can decide what you have to purchase, but if you are in a presidential swing state, the secretary has the authority to undo everything she just did,” Cannon says.

Wait, how’d that last sentence get in there? Anyway, read the whole thing.