Following up on my observation of the unprecedented government censorship on the part of the HHS regarding a letter Humana sent out to its customers, it would now appear that the government is attempting to censor the truth.

As I quoted on Monday:

The government is investigating a major insurance company for allegedly trying to scare seniors with a mailer warning they could lose important benefits under health care legislation in Congress....

HHS ordered the company to immediately halt any such mailings, and remove any related materials from its Web site.

In my comment I said that even if Humana were outright lying, it'd still be pretty dang difficult to justify the government attempting to violate the first amendment.

However, it appears that Humana wasn't lying. They were telling the truth.

Congress' chief budget officer on Tuesday contradicted President Barack Obama's oft-stated claim that seniors wouldn't see their Medicare benefits cut under a health care overhaul.

The head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Elmendorf, told senators that seniors in Medicare's managed care plans could see reduced benefits under a bill in the Finance Committee.

The bill would cut payments to the Medicare Advantage plans by more than $100 billion over 10 years.

Elmendorf said the changes "would reduce the extra benefits that would be made available to beneficiaries through Medicare Advantage plans."

So it now appears that HHS and the administration is in the uncomfortable position of having to explain why they are supporting the censorship of a company that is trying to inform its clients about the factual consequences of legislation currently under consideration.

Or does this mean the non-partisan CBO is also trying to "scare seniors?" Because as far as I can tell, the CBO is telling Congress exactly the same thing Humana was telling its clients.