| Health care costs have risen 59 percent under Bush. |
| Mr. Bush claimed to be against excessive government expenditure. So what did he do to rein in the cost of Medicare, the biggest single item driving federal spending?
Nothing. In fact, the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act drove costs up both by preventing bargaining over drug prices and by locking in subsidies to insurance companies. When health insurance premiums doubled during the Bush years, our health care system “controlled costs” by dropping coverage for many workers — but as far as the Bush administration was concerned, that wasn’t a problem. President Bush, you may remember, was notably unconcerned with the plight of the uninsured. “I mean, people have access to health care in America,” he once remarked. “After all, you just go to an emergency room.” Source: "Costs and Compassion" By PAUL KRUGMAN - NY Times - July 23, 2009 Prices for health coverage purchased by employers and workers are up 11.2 percent this year [2004], the fourth consecutive annual increase. Costs have risen a whopping 59 percent since 2000. And analysts say double-digit price increases are likely for many years ahead. Source: "What ails health care in the U.S." by Robert Dodge - Dallas Morning News - 9/20/04 From 2000 to 2004, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the number of Medicaid [the government sponsored health care program for the poor] recipients grew by one-third. This growth coincides with the erosion of employer-sponsored health benefits. Source: "States Seek Sweeping Changes To Trim Medicaid By Billions" by Robert Pear - New York Times - 5/9/05 The cost of Medicaid, financed jointly by the federal government and the states, has risen 63 percent in five years and is now more than $300 billion a year. Governors from both parties have asked the federal government to allow them more latitude in restricting Medicaid spending. Source: "In Mississippi, Soaring Costs Force Deep Medicaid Cuts" By SHAILA DEWAN - NY Times - July 2, 2005 |
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