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"it does nothing to reduce the size of government and is fiscally irresponsible."

That's why I said that you were "embellishing". If you had said, this law does "less than desired amounts" to reduce government, that would be one thing, but saying that it does "nothing" is easily disprovable.

The Medicare Reform law has half a dozen Privatization options, any one of which, if taken to its full potential, could greatly reduce the size of government. Likewise, ushering in *preventative* medicine in place of the ancient Medicare insistence upon surgery and other reactive care is likewise a financial improvement with great potential.

At the very least, the Medical Savings Accounts in this new law give yet one more tax cut to Americans, a fine way of reducing government by starving the beast.

Thus, your argument is diminished by your repeated insistence upon using hyperbole that can so easily be disproved. Does "nothing" to reduce government, you claim?! Oh please.

Moreover, the cost may be a legitimate target, but the figures being tossed around are not the values authorized in this law. The Medicare Reform law only authorizes $39.5 Billion, flat rate, per year for each of ten years.

That's roughly $10 per month per American.

Look Southhack. I enjoy your posts that support PresBush and list all his accomplishments and I agree with most of what you have to say. In fact, I've referenced your points in support of PresBush and supplimented my own lists on several occasions in the past.

However, you are dead wrong on this issue and I've not engaged in any hyperbole. You're distorting the facts. Period.

>>>That's why I said that you were "embellishing". If you had said, this law does "less than desired amounts" to reduce government, that would be one thing, but saying that it does "nothing" is easily disprovable.

There is no up side to spending $400 billion in unfunded mandates. Especially when that $400 billion, will soon turn into $800 billion to $1.2 trillion, or more! I don't understand why you and others have such a hard time grasping the reality of the facts, as they exist. You do not spend $400 billion to reduce the size of government. That pure sophistry!

Many of the aspects of privatization that are contained in this new Medicare bill, are extremely limited in range and scope. The Heritage Foundation clearly spells this out in their analysis. I just got done listening to Arizona Rep. John Shadegg and he said and I quote, "the reforms went out the window". Shadegg said, we could have created a program that assisted the elderly poor and helped out seniors with catastrophic healthcare costs, without spending $400 billion in unfunded mandates.

You really need to wake up and get with the program.