Bush administration defends Medicare drug program

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 3/5/07 | Reuters

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration defended the Medicare prescription drug benefit program on Monday as being cheaper than initially forecast, challenging the U.S. government's top accountant who called it "fiscally irresponsible."

"Over 90 percent (of Medicare recipients) are covered and the program costs are much less than what experts predicted when the bill was enacted in 2004," said Leslie Norwalk, acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a unit of the Health and Human Services Department.

Medicare is the federal health insurance program covering 42 million elderly and disabled Americans. The program was expanded last year to include prescription drugs, and the Kaiser Family Foundation said the estimated cost was $31 billion in 2006.

"Medicare was the only significant health insurance program in America without this benefit," Norwalk said in a statement. "Adding a drug benefit was a major step in getting Medicare's benefits in line with today's medical care."

Her defense came as U.S. Comptroller General David Walker said the new benefit would require $8 trillion to be invested at current Treasury rates to cover the gap between what Medicare will likely take in and what it is expected to cost over the next 75 years.

That $8 trillion cost was "not disclosed, not discussed before the bill was enacted into law," Walker told the Federation of American Hospitals on Monday.

On CBS's 60 Minutes program on Sunday night, Walker called the prescription drug program "probably the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation since the 1960s ... because we promise way more than we can afford to keep."

Democrats who now control Congress have criticized the Medicare prescription drug plan, which a Republican-led Congress passed in 2003, because it barred the government from negotiating prices.

The House of Representatives has approved a bill to let the government negotiate lower drug prices instead of leaving it to private companies to secure discounts. The Senate has not yet acted, and the Bush administration has vowed to veto it.

[NormsRevenge]

Let's do a FReeper poll.

How ya doing with the topic at hand,
The Medicare prescription drug benefit program?

Thanks! :-)

[edcoil]

PRESCRIPTION DRUG BILL 'MAY BE THE MOST FINANCIALLY IRRESPONSIBLE LAW IN 40 YEARS';
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash3.htm ^ | March 1, 2007 |

Bill Will Add $8 Trillion to Long-Term Medicare Obligations - That Could Already Bankrupt the U.S.

The U.S. government's top accountant says the law that added a prescription drug benefit to Medicare may be the most financially irresponsible legislation passed since the 1960s.

U.S. Comptroller General David Walker says Medicare -- barring vast reform to the program and the nation's healthcare system -- is already on course to possibly bankrupt the treasury and adding the prescription bill just makes the situation worse. Walker appears in a Steve Kroft report to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, March 4 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

(Excerpt) Read more at drudgereport.com ...

[highball]

Oh, sure, what's $8 trillion?

Anybody still want to maintain the fiction that W is a fiscal conservative?

[flashbunny]

$8 trillion here, $8 trillion there, pretty soon you're talking about real money!

[edcoil]

"$8 trillion to be invested at current Treasury rates to cover the gap between what Medicare will likely take in and what it is expected to cost over the next 75 years."

This is what they said they would do with Social Security. When has congress ever had money it did not spend.

[NormsRevenge]

Baby boomers by the bushelful are already queueing up in the wings.

It's Gubamint looking out for you whether you can afford it or not.

[NeoCaveman]

Largest expansion of the federal government since LBJ.

[NormsRevenge]

Everett Dirksen nailed it.. to paraphrase

A billion here and a billion there and before ya know it, you're talking some serious dinaro. ;-)

[TonyRo76]

GWB = LBJ II

[M203M4]

It is only a few trillion dollars of taxpayer money. You know, someone else's money. Besides, it is money well spent - how else can you pay 40x more for what can be purchased at Wal*Mart with cash, simultaneously growing the welfare state and artificially enriching well-connected businesses? It works so well, it may just be time to nationalize the entire health-care industry. Hell, companies crippled by their union entitlement payouts are already begging to be let off the hook. What business of the sucker taxpayer is it how their tax dollars are wasted, err, I mean wisely spent? Nanny-state knows best. "Socialism, come hither"

[lormand]

You would think the lefties would be thrilled with GW for all of our money he is wasting on Big Gubment.

[From many - one.]

Have it. Detest it.

Disapproved of it before it was passed

[Veto!]

IMHO, the Medicare drug program is a total scam instituted for the benefit of BigPharma. I know I sound like a liberal, but that's really what the stupid program is. I know, I'm a " beneficiary."

I can get all kinds of expensive drugs I would NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TAKE, but benefits for things every senior needs have been reduced or eliminated to compensate for all the public funds being shuffled to Merck et al. Huge nonnegotiable sums. Drug companies are not giving the government any kind of price break. Also, the drugs covered are pretty much limited to the big profit makers.

Meanwhile, after eye surgery, an ophthalmologist needs to know how well the eye is seeing. However, that part of the exam is no longer covered. Reason? Medicare doesn't pay for "vision care." Anything associated with getting eyeglasses is now lumped int vision care even if it's not about getting glasses and is merely a diagnostic tool to see how the surgery worked out. Thus, out of pocket expenses for every visit to the ophthalmologist is now $68 for an exam that's merely a diagnostic to recheck how the surgery went and has nothing to do with getting glasses. I'm sure this is just one small but very irritating example of how funding for legitmate services is being hacked away while monies are funneled to drug companies.

And speaking of glasses, every senior needs glasses and some need hearing aids. Ongoing but relatively inexpensive needs. None are covered under medicare. But all those expensive drugs, you bet.

This is a CROCK of major proportions. Unconscionable.

[A.Hun]

8 trillion over 75 years. And by then, we will be under 20 feet of water according to Al Gore.

I don't believe either one of them. This is the same POS that led the fight to sue Cheney for access to his advice on the Bush Energy Bill.

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/01/25/cheney.energy/index.html

[MBB1984]

Yeah, a fiscal conservative in the mode of LBJ! Disgusting.

[gcruse]

"The House of Representatives has approved a bill to let the government negotiate lower drug prices instead of leaving it to private companies to secure discounts. The Senate has not yet acted, and the Bush administration has vowed to veto it."

I must be having a senior moment. Does this mean Bush will veto any measure that allows the government to negotiate with drug companies for the lowest price? Surely I'm missing something.