Scarborough is a true MSNBC kook, in my view.
In the full article, he states, “... [the] so-called conservative [GOP] party had shoved through a $7 trillion Medicare drug plan...”
Needless to say, this statement bears no relation to reality. It seems he took the Wikipedia article about Part D, and multiplied their 700B$+ number by ten or some such.
Reality is that PartD was estimated by CBO in 2004 to cost on the order of 500B$-550B$ over ten years. By 2007, they had dropped that estimate by $136B, and this year it is revealed http://catalyst.phrma.org/new-congressional-budget-office-findings-show-medicare-part-d-continues-hold-line-costs/ “CBO is now projecting Part D is costing 43 percent below its original 2004 estimate.”, eg., 298 Billion Dollars. In addition, this number does not include the savings which accrue from using drugs instead of a surgical procedures in many instances.
Those who criticize Part D really need to do more homework. I continue to wonder whether it actually saves us money we would otherwise be putting into the other “Parts” of Medicare.
That Scarborough uses that particular successful program, instead of other big spending projects, to criticize the GOP is appalling.
Thanks for the info. I had not looked into it myself. I suppose it makes sense for a fake conservative to criticize a Bush initiative.