Entitled?

We wish conservatives in Congress lots of luck in their campaigns to reduce government spending and reform the new national health care law. Public opinion polls on the health care measure make it clear that while most Americans seem eager for lawmakers to impose new controls on spending, they are more hooked than ever on entitlements.

Entitlement spending is the single toughest nut to crack in terms of addressing the national debt. Programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid chew through nearly $2 trillion a year.

But it is entitlements not supported directly by the federal budget that provide a look into the public's addiction.

Two parts of the health care law have proven to be very popular ... One requires insurance companies to allow young adults to be covered as dependents on their parents' health insurance policies. The other requires insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions, without reflecting that in premiums.

Both measures amount to new entitlements. The costs of both must be spread by insurance companies through premiums of all their customers, whether they benefit from the special programs or not. In other words, tens of millions of people are paying more to provide the two entitlements to a relative few of their neighbors.

At one time conservatives listed the two provisions as among their priority targets, because the entitlements were to be paid for involuntarily by everyone with health insurance. No more. The programs' popularity has forced conservatives to back away.

How, then, can Congress be expected to tackle reform in other, even more popular entitlements?

- The Journal, Martinsburg, W.Va.