A news report came out of Washington, D.C., on Friday afternoon that should have been on every newspaper's front page and in every television or radio newscast this week. Government analysts with the Health and Human Services Department concluded that the Democrats' latest version of health care reform will cause health care costs to increase more rapidly than if no changes are made.

Congressional Democrats and White House officials have promised that health care reform will "bend the cost curve" and reduce spending. Most people know that health care spending already is growing faster than inflation. But many people don't know that health care spending in the United States is almost twice as high, on a per-capita basis, than in any other country.

The HHS health care cost report is important, and should have been given prominent coverage. But that didn't happen, either because it contained inconvenient facts or because people are more interested in Tiger Woods' love life.

Further increases in heath care spending, which already amounts to 17 percent of domestic spending, eventually will crowd out other spending and damage or destroy the U.S. economy. The latest reform plan being considered in Congress would only make the cost burdens worse.

Pointing out the failure of current plans to reduce health care spending is not to suggest that health care reform is not needed. Reform is needed, but it should be done in a way that reduces overall health care spending in the United States so that it is closer to health care spending in other industrialized nations.

The report also looked at Democrats' plan for paying for about half of the estimated $1 trillion, 10-year cost of health care reform by extracting huge savings from Medicare. The conclusion: It won't work.

What makes this report different is that it was prepared by the Office of the Actuary, which went beyond politicians' promises and looked at past experiences with Medicare and attempts at saving money.

The recent "doc fix" vote in Congress is a good example of a major cost-saving plan promised years earlier that was undone by the current Congress after doctors complained and sent lobbyists to Washington.

The planned 21 percent cut in payments to doctors might not be a good idea or a smart way to save money in Medicare, but the backtracking by Congress suggests the Office of the Actuary report is correct in doubting the latest promises of future savings to come from Medicare.

The HHS report proves that health care reform efforts should slow down — and back up. If not to square one, then at least to the point where Congress examines the health care programs in other advanced nations, which have found ways to spend less money and get better results.

For nearly two decades, health care spending in the United States has grown more rapidly than spending in other countries. Americans should understand why.

Congressional efforts to satisfy the special interests of the health insurance industry, drug manufacturers, hospitals and doctors while also expanding coverage to an additional 35 million people now lacking insurance only worsens the cost-comparison picture.

The failure to seriously address cost issues suggests many in Congress just want to pass something called health care reform for political purposes. Last week, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania commented on recent developments, saying "Any big agreement is progress. Even if we do not know any of the details."

Casey would probably like to revise that quote, but its honesty reveals an attitude too common among Democrats in Congress where details and costs are secondary.

Health care reform efforts should back up and focus on areas of broad agreement, such as making health insurance portable and prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Once those changes have been implemented, Congress should look to other countries for cost control ideas — and cancel the secret deals made by the White House to gain political support from health insurers, drug makers, hospitals and doctors.

Last week's warnings over the cost of health care reform should have gotten more attention. But the message is clear, and it's important for the public to understand what's in these 2,000-page bills.