Fiscal Insanity Continued – The Real Entitlements Crisis is the One Bush Created

Bush worked his magic on Medicare with a Drug Care plan that was little more than a wind fall for major drug companies. What was the result of this brilliant move to save Medicare? Medicare is now facing a $16 Trillion deficit, far more than the trumped up $10 Trillion that Social Security will face when we erroneously project its shortfalls into the infinite future. Social Security can be easily remedied with only modest changes, Medicare in the mean time is sinking fast. The following is from today’s Washington Post:

For a cautionary tale of how this debate could go, consider last year's Medicare legislation. Mr. Bush started out with a reasonable premise in that case, too: He wanted to add a prescription drug benefit to the program, and at the same time to introduce cost-saving competition. By the time the legislation was completed, its competitive provisions were modest and its cost had soared. Worryingly, Mr. Bush does not appear to have absorbed this lesson. In an aside yesterday, he cited Medicare as a success -- as though enacting reform, any reform, were something to be proud of.