Having Fun Yet?

No? Here comes the Prescription Drug Plan to take up the slack!! The feds explain. NYTimes (10.11.05):

"Information issued by the government, while generally accurate, tends to give an upbeat assessment of the new benefit, emphasizing the advantages. But the new program is so complex that the government, by its own account, has made two significant errors in explaining it to the public. Federal health officials incorrectly described the standard minimum drug benefit in an advertisement that appeared on Sept. 25 in Parade magazine, the Sunday newspaper supplement with a circulation of more than 37 million." As Deadline Nears, Sorting Out the Medicare Drug Plan

Confused yet? Ha!! You ain't seen nuthin': "In addition, the official Medicare handbook, sent to all beneficiaries, significantly overstates the number of prescription drug plans that will be available without any premiums for low-income people." Seniors don't understand it. Younger folks don't understand it. We don't understand it. The Feds don't understand it. No one understands it. Not only is it really confusing, it's really expensive!! GAO (03.23.04):

"The new drug benefit is one of the largest unfunded commitments ever undertaken by the federal government. The Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds will include an official estimate of the discounted present value cost of this new benefit over the next 75 years in their annual report, which is scheduled for issuance today. Preliminary estimates of its long-term cost range up to $7-8 trillion in discounted present value terms over a 75-year period." Statement of David M. Walker Comptroller General of the United States

Pay close attention to the term "discounted present value", which is roughly the projected cost in present dollars. Citing a Bruce Bartlett article in the National Review (yep, the National Review), Max makes a prediction: "If you think Bush is in trouble now, wait till people start experiencing the new Medicare drug benefit. This is going to be a huge debacle." The title of Bartlett's article is "Call it the New Coke of the Bush administration", which pretty much says it all. Max. Bruce. What a couple of naysayers.