] The government's top expert on Medicare costs was told ] not to tell key lawmakers about cost estimates that could ] have torpedoed the White House-backed Medicare ] prescription-drug plan. ] ] Richard Foster, the chief actuary for the Centers for ] Medicare and Medicaid Services, told colleagues last June ] that he would be fired if he revealed a number higher ] than some lawmakers said they would approve. ] ] When the House of Representatives passed the ] controversial benefit by five votes in November, the ] White House was embracing an estimate by the ] Congressional Budget Office that it would cost $395 ] billion in the first 10 years. ] ] But for months the administration's analysts in the ] Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had concluded ] that the drug benefit could cost upward of $100 billion ] more than that. [ So, they lied. Again. And not in a pseudo-mistruth, beating-around-the-bush kind of way. In an outright, unprincipled, we-need-this-political-victory-at-all-costs kind of way. The bill passed by 5 votes. More than 5 people would have jumped ship had they known the number was closer to $500 B than $400 B. It's stunning how much total bullshit this administration is willing to shovel. Also, on the heels of all this indignation over Kerry calling them a bunch of liars, this couldn't be better timing. See, dammit, you *are* liars. Bush's people lied, conspired to get a bill passed under false cost estimates, all while the main administrator was interviewing for private sector jobs (which he eventually got, jumping the HHS ship). Completely outrageous. -k] Charlotte Observer | 03/12/2004 | Medicare cost expert muzzled |