Medicare Fraud

      Medicare fraud isn't just for HMO's anymore. Now it starts at the White House. In an attempt to put money in the drug makers pockets, Bush pushed for and got his Medicare "reform" last year. The estimate of the cost of his plan was about $400 Billion over 10 years. Numbers released earlier this week push the point that democrats made at the time. The numbers that Bush was pushing were wrong. In a report filed this week, the new estimate sits at $720 billion for the next 10 years, nearly double to original estimate. Where do the people turn when they can't count on the government to at least try to be honest? Bush has stated that any attempt to revisit the bill and make changes will receive his first veto. Good, lets see it.

The biggest cost comes from Medicare. In 2003, Bush pushed through the biggest expansion of the health program since its creation in 1965 with the new universal prescription drug benefit.

Even the administration's $720 billion 10-year estimate is a net figure that assumes big savings and offsets; the total price without those is estimated at $1.2 trillion.

Congress passed the legislation based on a 10-year cost projection of $400 billion. Members in both parties are now expressing shock and outrage at the higher figure.