I can't believe the President's senior citizens drug program adds anywhere near this much to the deficit.
Can anyone validate this number?
I can't believe the President's senior citizens drug program adds anywhere near this much to the deficit.
Can anyone validate this number?
The following table is from page 108 of the 2006 Annual Report of the Medicare Trustees, found online at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ReportsTrustFunds/downloads/tr2006.pdf:
Table III.C17.—Operations of the Part D Account in the SMI Trust Fund (Cash Basis)
during Calendar Years 2004-2015
(billions of dollars)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Income Expenditures
------------------------------------------ -------------------------
Transfers Interest Adminis-
Calendar Premium General from and Payments trative
year income revenue States other Total to plans expense Total
Historical data:
2004 — $0.4 — — $0.4 $0.4 — $0.4
2005 — 1.1 — — 1.1 1.1 — 1.1
Intermediate estimates:
2006 5.0 46.2 $7.0 $0.1 58.3 57.5 $0.7 58.3
2007 7.5 52.5 7.5 0.1 67.7 67.0 0.7 67.7
2008 10.5 59.8 8.1 0.1 78.4 77.7 0.7 78.4
2009 12.7 65.6 8.7 0.1 87.2 86.5 0.7 87.2
2010 11.9 72.2 9.4 0.1 93.6 92.9 0.7 93.6
2011 14.4 79.5 10.1 0.1 104.1 103.4 0.7 104.1
2012 16.0 88.0 10.9 0.2 115.0 114.4 0.7 115.0
2013 17.7 97.4 11.9 0.2 127.1 126.4 0.7 127.1
2014 19.5 107.7 12.8 0.2 140.2 139.5 0.7 140.2
2015 21.5 119.2 13.9 0.2 154.8 154.0 0.8 154.8
As can be seen, the estimate for the general revenue cost of the Senior Citizen Drug Program (Medicare Part D) was $46 billion in 2006. However, the cost is projected to rise to over $100 billion per year by 2014. In any case, the current $46 billion is less than a fifth of the current deficit. And, as shown in the Treasury figures in post # 102, the total federal debt actually increased by a much higher $574 billion in the fiscal year that just ended.
The table also shows that the premiums collected from beneficiaries pay just a small portion of the cost. They will pay about 9 percent of the cost in 2006, rising to about 14 percent by 2015. The small portion that is paid by states is to make up for Medicaid savings for drug benefits that were covered by Medicaid but will now be covered by Medicare Part D. General revenues pay the great majority of the cost, about 77 percent in 2015.