I Suspect We All Knew This Was Coming

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

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 – 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

Other sources peg the 10 year cost at $1.2 trillion — with this administration’s spending history, I always credit the highest projections available.

What do seniors get for this trillion dollars? An very modest benefit with a bizzare gap in the middle.

AB