| The only thing that surprises me is how quickly the emperor was exposed as having no clothes. Now the issue is why was there such a large error? Why was responsible? Who cooked the books? The period of time is too short to just blame it on the outcomes not matching the perdictions. Normally there are enough outcomes to provide cover for the perps to just say they are shocked and amazed. Not this time. The WMD "scandal" doesn't interest me, although it certainly interests the media. This one does.
Then get a load of this... Bush's budget will show a $530 billion cost over 10 years for the addition of a prescription drug benefit for the Medicare health program for senior citizens. That is 33 percent more than was anticipated when the Medicare overhaul was approved less than two months ago.
Bush Seeks to Soothe Republican Worries on Budget
Reuters - Sat January 31st, 2004 - Caren Bohan
But that $400 billion is up from $300 billion over ten years from two years ago. WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - Congress will seek to set aside approximately $300 billion over the next 10 years to fund a Medicare prescription drug benefit, congressional aides said Friday. Aides to House Speaker Dennis J. Hastert (R-IL) said that he would seek to attain the $300 billion figure, an amount roughly equal to the money approved for the benefit as part of last year's budget resolution. Early negotiations last year failed to produce an agreement on prescription drugs or on overall Medicare reform. The $300 billion is likely to exceed President Bush's budget request for prescription drugs by approximately $100 billion, said Hastert spokesman John Feehery.
Congress to Seek $300 Billion for Medicare Benefit
Reuters - January 28th, 2002 - Todd Zwillich
$530 billion is almost a 77% increase from $300 billion, and we haven't spent a dime yet. But it gets better... Another Republican acknowledged today that the $153 billion President Bush set aside in his budget for a Medicare prescription drug benefit would not be enough. "Every body knows that figure is gone,"Energy and Commerce Chairman Tauzin told reporters at a briefing. number, he said, was set before CBO re-estimated last year‚'s House bill, which he said is "already over $200 billion and climbing."
CongressDaily
Medicare and Prescription Drugs - Billions of Dollars, 2002 - 2011
March 22, 2001
So, since early 2001, President Bush's Prescription Drug entitlement has gone from a projected $153 billion to $530 billion in the first ten years. That's a over a 340% increase from the initial estimates. Of course, all of those numbers are projections for the time period prior to the retirement of the Baby Boomers. Then it gets worse.
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