Elephant Droppings

OhmyGod, it's shocking -- shocking! The Bush Administration forced its Medicare actuary to keep his yap shut about the actual expected cost ($500-$600 Billion, not the $400 billion as advertised) of the new drug benefit. From the New York Times story today: "Perhaps the most striking example of the administration's bypassing the bureaucracy to accomplish a political goal occurred in late 2003 when the Medicare actuary, Richard S. Foster, was told by his politically appointed boss that he would be fired if he gave Congress his best estimate of the cost of the administration's prescription-drug plan. If he had told the truth - that his projections showed the bill would cost $500 billion to $600 billion over 10 years, not $400 billion, as the administration was saying publicly - the bill surely would not have passed in the House, Republicans and Democrats agree."

Too bad Foster did what he was told.