Medicare bill even more screwed up than I realized

[priller]

First of all, about them suddenly discovering it's going to cost more. This quote just set me off:

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the disparate numbers do not mean the president misled Congress. He said the administration's actuaries in the budget office began work on the numbers only after the bill became law.

:wow: Huh?

So where did the initial $400 billion estimate come from? If they didn't start working on the numbers until after the bill (which I don't believe, btw) then how did they get that estimate? Did Cheney just grab it out of his ass?


Secondly, I highly recommend Louis Lapham's article "Bad Medicine" in the Feb Harper's. He points out some of the more egregious provisions of the bill, plus dishes out lots of dirt on Bill Frist's family HCA hospital firm. I though this paragraph was especially prescient:

Even the dimmest Republican congressman knows the government doesn't have the $400 billion the drug prescription benefit presumably will cost over the next ten years--doesn't have the cash on hand or anywhere in anybody's budget projection. The money must be borrowed, at rates of interest yet to be determined. In the meantime, while waiting upon possibly unhappy financial events (wars, revenue shortfalls, stock market downturns, sustained recession, etc) the government retains no control of the fees charged by the health plans or the prices that the pharmaceutical companies demand for drugs. Let Mother Nature take her course, and the expenditure estimated at $400 billion could easily become an invoice presented for $1 trillion.

Hey, we're already on our way there.

[petrock2004]

1. talk about fiscal irresponsibility...

"hey guys!!! let's pass a big bill!"

"alright boss, how much is it gonna cost?"

"who told you to ask questions! just shutup and pass it!"

*sigh* if independent thought paid by the hour, those idiots wouldn't have 2 pennies to rub together.

(good thing it's being a repug. congressman that pays by the hour then, eh?)

[buycitgo]

3. this'll be coming out.....I heard it on radio today

some office in the government SAID it was going to cost over 500 billion.

they KNEW all along it was more likely to be that figure, but COVERED it up!

I don't have a link, but it's going to come out somewhere

just wait

[aintitfunny]

2. Once again a veiled corporate benefit

What is the percentage of the 540mm that will go to the "private" health care concerns and the drug companies? Because it sure is not going to the elderly. My 80 year old mother will have to pay more money to get her medications. She was getting by just fine with a supplemental plan and Medicare. She is stable financially, but not wealthy by any means. My 85 year old father-in-law same thing. They will both be out of pocket with this lovely new plan. Just another Corporate tax cut in the guise of helping the elderly. IT IS SHAMELESS.

[loudsue]

4. You don't mean to tell me Bush lied to the American PEOPLE!

Hell! If the guy's lips are moving, he's lying to whomever is within ear shot.

:kick: