Peter Orszag's lovely touch on Fred Hiatt

Krugman today mentions a spat between OMB director Peter Orszag and WashPost editorial page editor Fred Hiatt over healthcare. Krugman:

Mr. Hiatt had criticized Congress for not taking what he considers the necessary steps to control health-care costs — namely, taxing high-cost insurance plans and establishing an independent Medicare commission.Writing on the budget office blog — yes, there is one, and it’s essential reading — Mr. Orszag pointed out, not too gently, that the Senate Finance Committee’s bill actually includes both of the allegedly missing measures.

"Not too gently" -- this is going to be fun! So I checked the excerpt from Orszag's blog post ("Missing the Boat on Cost Containment") directly:

Fred Hiatt in today’s Washington Post is the latest of these naysayers, writing in his column that the two biggest steps that can be taken to reduce the rate of health care cost growth — changes in health care’s tax treatment and an independent Medicare commission — are missing. I agree with Hiatt on the potential substantial benefits in terms of cost containment from these two changes. But a note to readers who have not read their Washington Post the past few weeks: the Senate Finance Committee bill includes both of these measures.

Ouch.