Real cost

When the federal government brings on a new social program they underestimate the cost to get the bill passed and once people start receiving the benefits it is almost impossible to stop it. The one exception to this was the Medicare Catastrophic –Coverage Law passed in 1989 and repealed a few months later. This plan would pay for additional benefits for seniors including nursing home cost. The plan passed with great fanfare but soon seniors found out they were going to pay for this new plan with a sur-tax of over $1,000 per year. They rose up with such force that the law was trashed. The house voted 360 to 66 to junk it and the senate voted the same 99 to 0. The other plans like social security, Medicare and Medicaid remained as law because they were paid for by the general public or more correctly by deficit financing. While most see this as Democratic politics the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan was passed by Bush 43. The agreement was that it would not cost more than 400 billion over ten years and if it did it could be stopped by any congressman using a procedure called, “point of order”. The chief actuary figured the cost at $530 billion but this fact was hidden until the bill passed and was only revealed two months after Bush was re-elected. The latest addition to this list of benefits is Obamacare and that too is costing a lot more than the projections. So what’s new!