UPDATE: Out Of The Frying Pan

Republican Senate Budget Committee chair is freakin'. Reuters (02.13.05):

"A senior Senate Republican said on Sunday Congress should adjust the Medicare drug benefit to rein in costs, even though President Bush has threatened to veto any weakening of the plan.

'We're in a little different quadrants on this, the president and I. I do feel there needs to be some changes in the Medicare drug benefit in order to make it affordable,' Budget Committee chairman Judd Gregg of New Hampshire said on ABC's 'This Week.'" Emphasis supplied.

Key Senator Says Medicare Benefit Costs Too Much

The Gamma Quadrant.

It's gonna cost even more. NY Times (02.09.05):

"The Bush administration offered a new estimate of the cost of the Medicare drug benefit on Tuesday, saying it would cost $720 billion in the next 10 years.

That is much more than the $400 billion Congress assumed when it passed legislation creating the benefit in late 2003." Emphasis supplied.

New White House Estimate Lifts Drug Benefit Cost to $720 Billion

Let's fire up the WayBack machine. From GovExec.com (03.25.04):

"Medicare chief actuary Richard Foster told lawmakers Wednesday he had shared his higher estimate of the cost of the Medicare prescription drug bill with White House, Health and Human Services and Office of Management and Budget officials, but Democrats angered by the administration's suppression of that higher price tag did not find the 'smoking gun' they were seeking in the controversy.

In testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, Foster for the first time discussed publicly how Thomas Scully, the former director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), threatened to fire him if he responded to requests by members of Congress seeking cost estimates of the Medicare bill that Congress passed last year.

The Congressional Budget Office had estimated the new law would cost $395 billion, while Foster's tally was $534 billion. Many conservatives resisted the bill, and others were only convinced to support it by promises that it would not top $400 billion.

As the bill was being crafted, Foster said his estimated price tag fluctuated but remained between 500 and 600 billion." Emphasis supplied.

Medicare actuary details threats over estimates

QOTD: Representative Rahm Emmanuel (D - IL5): "The new cost estimate destroys the credibility of the Bush administration. Officials were so far off in estimating the cost of the Medicare law. Why should we believe what they say about the financial problems of Social Security?"

Bonus QOTD: Representative Pete Stark (D - CA13): "I told you so. We can't trust numbers provided by administration officials. They'll say anything to get a bill passed. And if the new drug benefit costs more, the extra money goes to their friends in the pharmaceutical industry, not to senior citizens."

Those Democrats; always so negative. C'mon!! The Administration was only off by about 56%. And that Foster guy. He was just a disgruntled employee, so what did he know?