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Bush Signs $400 Billion Prescription Drug Program Into Law: Bush Is A BIG GOVERNMENT Republican
December.8,2003

Posted on 12/08/2003 8:47:55 AM PST by Reagan Man

President Bush has made it official. By signing into law the new Medicare Prescription Drug Program, the President has given his approval to the largest increase in spending by the federal government since Medicare itself was created and signed into law by the liberal Democrat, President Johnson in 1965. The President has given his okay to raise government expenditures by $400 billion over the next ten years. We all know spending on this Medicare PDP, will not stop at $400 billion. As with all government entitlement programs, the costs to run this new addition to the federal bureaucracy will double or triple over the next ten years.

Bush does win on the politics, but its not a political victory for conservatives or for the GOP in the long term. Medicare is not on the road to privatization.

Throwing money at problems is the way liberal Democrats solved things throughout the 1960`s and 1970`s. That's how the governments entitlement programs grew to over 60% of the current budgetary expenditures. Most traditional conservatives don't oppose assisting the elderly poor, the seriously handicapped or America's military veterans. However, this addition to Medicare, is a boondoggle for government, the drug companies and financially secure seniors.

In the 2000 election campaign, candidate Bush ran on reforming Medicare. His plan called for $158 billion program that assisted the elderly poor, while injecting a much needed modernization phase into the system. What the President signed into law today, was not what he ran on in 2000. President Bush has proven, he is a BIG GOVERNMENT Republican.

The Hertitage Foundation did a solid analysis on the new Mediacre-PDP. You can find it here, Why Medicare Expansion Threatens the Bush Tax Cuts and Undermines Fundamental Tax Reform . Robert Samualson wrote a good piece on the subject. Medicare as Pork Barrel. Here's another good article, Analysts: Medicare Drug Costs Will Rise.

A snippet from the Heritage Foundation analysis.

The Medicare prescription drug proposal is bad health policy, exacerbating the flaws in a system that has almost no market-based incentives to improve service and control costs. But the House and Senate bills also will undermine sound tax and economic policy in several ways. Specifically:

The size of government will expand

A new entitlement will take America even faster down the road that has caused so much economic damage in Europe's welfare states. Indeed, the unfunded Medicare expansion is essentially a huge future tax increase since the population of Medicare recipients will nearly double once the baby-boom generation retires. Ironically, just when some European countries are waking up to the problem and restraining unfunded entitlements, America will be creating an enormous new entitlement.

President Bush's recently enacted tax cut and tax reform package will likely be the first casualty

Because of arcane budget rules, the bulk of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire at the end of 2008 and the end of 2010. Extending these tax cuts or making them permanent will be enormously difficult in an environment of skyrocketing spending for government-provided health care. Indeed, the creation of a prescription drug entitlement may be akin to repealing the Bush tax cuts.

By adding to the deficit, the huge new unfunded liability will likely be the death knell of further tax relief and fundamental tax reform

A prescription drug benefit means bigger deficits--a problem that will intensify as the baby boomers start to retire in the next decade. Once these demographic and fiscal variables become part of the budget forecast, lawmakers seeking to cut taxes and create a simple and fair tax code, such as the flat tax, in all probability will face insurmountable political obstacles.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: healthcare; medicare; prescriptionswindle
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To: NittanyLion
I honestly don't know enough about the minutia of the legislation to have a good opinion, what aspects of the bill didn't they like?
121 posted on 12/08/2003 1:01:51 PM PST by Valentine_W
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To: NittanyLion
Possibly, but it is ultimately putting the responsibility on results, not giving more money to hope to get results. I don't think anyone expects every aspect of every bill to be agreeable. But, you have to learn to walk before you can run. And these small steps only make bigger ones possible in the future. Sorry, I guess I'm too much of an optimist. Having taught in public schools, I know that there are some good ones, but the vast majority need major help- and need to be held accountable.
122 posted on 12/08/2003 1:03:29 PM PST by rintense
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To: Valentine_W
Apparently the additional bureaucracy that goes with writing and receiving grants is a huge problem. In addition, some of the testing requirements are evidently unrealistic. I've been told that school districts are bound by so many other mandates/regulations, the expectation that they can improve test scores absent a loosening of other restrictions is not realistic. Hard to argue with that...if a business was forced to use the same employees they always have, at the same pay, and with the same incentive/disciplinary leeway, what could you really expect to change? What I've heard is that the entire system needs an overhaul, and mandating outputs while disallowing change to inputs is not getting the job done.

To be honest I don't know enough to provide an educated opinion on it (hence the abundance of qualifiers in my statement), but the people I've spoke with are not your stereotypical lazy public educators.

123 posted on 12/08/2003 1:09:41 PM PST by NittanyLion
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To: NittanyLion
I can see where you are coming from. In many ways, the incentive to educate oneself comes from one's upbringing as a child. It seems that many children who are driven to excell in school do so because of their parents' encouragement or pressure to do so. For me, it is hard to see a group of children strive to learn when education just is not an important value in their family life. Perhaps that is me just being a cynic, but it would be in many ways, unfair to punish teachers for the failures of their students, especially if their classroom does not have the will or incentive to learn.
124 posted on 12/08/2003 1:13:06 PM PST by Valentine_W
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To: NittanyLion
Perhaps the appropriate over-haul would be for a complete system of school-choice programs across the country.
125 posted on 12/08/2003 1:16:34 PM PST by Valentine_W
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To: Valentine_W
Yep. It's a theory with which I initially disagreed completely, but I'm beginning to see the merits. Private schools can control what students are allowed in; public schools cannot. Often they're a function of changing demographics as much as anything. If a pharma company relocates its HQ down the street, you may see your scores go way up even if the quality of education goes way down. When industry has closed up and left town, and average income is way down, just the opposite occurs.
126 posted on 12/08/2003 1:18:31 PM PST by NittanyLion
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To: Valentine_W
You got it...at least from my relatively uninformed standpoint.
127 posted on 12/08/2003 1:18:54 PM PST by NittanyLion
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To: Valentine_W
Hey it took only 19 of them to wreak havoc. It is the for the 0.0001% that we need to seal our borders.
128 posted on 12/08/2003 1:46:46 PM PST by FirstPrinciple
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To: Valentine_W
Which one?
129 posted on 12/08/2003 1:47:09 PM PST by FirstPrinciple
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To: Miss Marple
It is all about incentives. The cost of prescription drug coverage will no doubt increase in the future, more so because govt will pour in tons of money in it. As premiums rise, companies will cut off prescription drug benefits and force seniors into medicare plans. Just wait till the next miracle drug comes out. The present financing plan will break apart because now every senior would demand this new drug. The voluntary aspect will die within the next 10 years. I have heard that companies have already started doing so.

If Bush was serious about real Medicare reform, he would introduce medical savings account for younger workers right away, where young workers can put money and invest for future healthcare needs. Also, for needy seniors give tax-breaks to pharmaceutical companies in the amount that they donate free drugs to poor seniors. That way, govt doesn't directly affect the price of drugs and only allows the companies to deduct whatever is the market price of the drug. But, I am not sure this would have been popular for his re-election chances which politicians always worry about.

130 posted on 12/08/2003 2:12:40 PM PST by FirstPrinciple
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To: FirstPrinciple
Medical savings accounts are in this bill. They are available to all workers whose employers have a high deductible.

My husband's company will be offering them.

I would prefer that they were available to all, but at least this is a first step.

131 posted on 12/08/2003 2:49:12 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: FirstPrinciple
The Center for American Progress; Podesta's brain-child and Soros's new project.
132 posted on 12/08/2003 4:41:42 PM PST by Valentine_W
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To: deport
"Now I could care less what you think"

Well, that at least means that you do care, at least marginally. I care about the ramifications of this legislation and did not like the way in which it came to pass Congress. That being said, not all is lost, but you already know that. Like you, I do not think it is wise to totally give up on the Bush Administration for decisions such as this; I actually think that Bush will do a lot of great things in his second term. Unlike you though, I will openly disagree with the President when he signs bills I disagree with.

133 posted on 12/08/2003 4:49:31 PM PST by Valentine_W
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To: Valentine_W
Oh geez. Where do I sign up?
134 posted on 12/08/2003 5:03:32 PM PST by FirstPrinciple
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To: FirstPrinciple
It's a miserable organization. Your name actually reminded me of the organization, mainly because Podesta started the organization first, and was then running around, telling the media that they would fully define their agenda after they decided what their principles were! It was hilarious to listen to, most think-tanks start based on principles of some sort, but not Podesta's brain-child--he has not a clue what principles are.

Interestingly enough, Soros gave the think-tank an initial $10 million grant.

135 posted on 12/08/2003 5:07:16 PM PST by Valentine_W
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To: Valentine_W
I think everyone should start a lunatic left-wing think tank so we can drain off the resources from the left quickly.
136 posted on 12/08/2003 5:09:18 PM PST by FirstPrinciple
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To: FirstPrinciple
Soro's supply of money seems almost never-ending. If you do not know a lot about him, look him up. Fortune magazine had a good article on him about a month ago--the man has tentacles all over the world. He funds everything from candidates, to think-tanks, to insurgent rebel groups in Europe.
137 posted on 12/08/2003 5:11:35 PM PST by Valentine_W
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To: SunStar
Yes, he did promise this. I don't know if people listened to his campaign speeches. This is not a surprise.
138 posted on 12/08/2003 5:16:11 PM PST by ladyinred (The Left have blood on their hands!)
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To: ladyinred
We interrupt this thread to alert you to breaking news that Ozzy Osburne has been in a serious car accident.

More to come.
139 posted on 12/08/2003 5:17:16 PM PST by Howlin
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To: Howlin
No way. Where? In Beverly Hills?
140 posted on 12/08/2003 5:20:26 PM PST by onyx
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