Congress kept in dark on Medicare cost (03/25/04)

Most of the headlines this week have been about President Bush’s former top adviser on terrorism and his new book.

But just as troubling in their own way have been the allegations of a guy named Richard Foster, who has labored in obscurity as the top actuary for Medicare.

Foster told Congress this week that he was told to keep quiet last year on his estimates of the price tag for the prescription drug plan lawmakers were approving. As Foster tells it, he believed his job was on the line if he provided information he’d developed to congressmen who had requested it.

That information would have bumped the estimated cost of the prescription drug benefit up more than $100 billion over earlier figures.

If you’ll recall, the White House was bringing tremendous pressure to bear on Republicans in the House and Senate to approve the drug plan. Many conservatives buckled, though 6th District Rep. Mike Pence refused to budge.

A key part of the argument for adding the benefit was the cost estimate, and there’s every reason to believe that if Richard Foster’s numbers had seen the light of day Congress would have acted differently. At the very least, it would have provided Republicans unhappy about adding a new government entitlement ammunition for their argument.

What’s especially noteworthy about the Foster case is that it was members of the president’s own party who were kept in the dark. But what’s inexcusable is that the American people were willfully misled. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]