When I was growing up, I was taught that you change the oil in your car every 3,000 miles.

Suppose I take my three-year old car to Jiffy Lube for an oil change.

Jiffy Lube has all the latest information technology, as well as good data on both manufacturers’ recommendations and best practices.

After entering my license plate into their database and checking my odometer, the technician says, “Mr. Hennessey, it’s been only 3,000 miles since your last oil change. Your manufacturer recommends an oil change once every 12,000 miles. We have even better data based on comparing wear and tear on vehicles from all over the country, and we recommend once every 10,000 miles. Still, you have at least 7,000 miles to go before you need to change your oil.”

I argue, “But I thought you were supposed to change your oil every 3,000 miles?”

He replies, “Those were the old practices. We have better diagnostic technologies, better engines, and better oil. It’s now every 10,000 – 12,000 miles.”

I respond, “Thanks. How much does an oil change cost?”

Imagine if the technician were to say, “$50, but your insurance covers it. You only have to pay a $5 deductible.”

What would you do?

The President is absolutely right when he says, “We can’t allow the costs of health care to continue strangling our economy.”

The President’s budget director, Peter Orszag, is the lead Administration advocate for this policy. Director Orszag is right when he writes on his blog,

Now, many of you have heard me go on about how important it is to reform health care in order to bend the curve on long-term costs and get our nation on firmer fiscal footing … and this data shows how critical that effort is. When we say that health care is consuming too much of our GDP, we are not just citing an abstract statistic. These costs have real implications in sectors across our economy, limit our economic growth, reduce opportunities, and harden inequalities.

He then, however, argues,

This is why the Administration is making historic investments through the Recovery Act in efforts that will be crucial in bending the curve on the growth of health care costs while improving the health outcomes we can expect from our medical system. We are investing over $19 billion in health information technology to help computerize Americans’ health records, which will reduce medical errors and enhance the array of data that physicians and researchers […]