Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius is holding an online health-care town-hall forum today, hosted by White House Office of Disinformation Management Health Care Communications Director Linda Douglas.

The forum began with Douglas inviting those with questions to e-mail in their queries, along with their name and where they’re from. Oh, I’m not making your job of tracking down dissenters that easy, Ms. Douglass.

One of the forum guests, David Blumenthal, made the case that improvements in health information technology can make the system work much better and reduce premiums over time. He said the improvements would “prevent repeated tests that someone else has already ordered.” He cited x-rays and lab tests. I don’t doubt that this has happened, but is this really a big chunk of health-care expenses? Do doctors often order the exact same test done twice because of a lack of communication?

Later the conversation shifted to the importance of primary-care services. It’s good to see that these officials recognize that, and they mentioned the shortage of primary-care physicians. They danced around how adding 40 million or so uninsured into the current health-care system would not overwhelm it and give us wait times measured in eons. Again, “preventing illness and promoting wellness” was going to keep people out of hospitals and the waiting rooms of doctors’ offices. Again, technology would eliminate duplication, and that would somehow mitigate the shortage of primary-care physicians.

So far, no mention is made of that strange alien entity called the “CBO” which keeps saying those cost-saving measures don’t really save that many costs . . .

UPDATE: Douglass picks out all the tough questions for Sebelius: “What are the differences among the terms ‘universal care’, ’single-payer’, ‘public option’ and ‘co-op’?”

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader writes in about duplicative tests, “Multiple same tests happen all the time, at least here in Atlanta. The excuse given is some law passed during Bill Clinton’s administration about medical-records privacy. If you want to avoid the second test, you – in person – have to go pick up and sign for the records. If you are already sick or hospitalized, you just cannot do it. One sad part is that, following the second test, you have to wait for another reading (I forgot what you have to pay for the second reading.).”

Like I said, I don’t doubt that it happens, but has anyone seen any good data on what amount of our health-care spending these duplicative tests add up to? Thirty percent, ten percent, one percent?