How did the promises of what Medicare was going to cost us when we were being sold on these programs square up with the actual cost experience over the years?  Glad you asked!  Here are some examples:

• When Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) was passed in 1965 we were told that the cost of the program 25 years later, in 1990, would be $9 billion a year.  The actual cost?  $67 billion.

• The entire Medicare program was made law in 1967.  At that time we were told that it would cost $12 billion by 1990.  You already know where this is going, don’t you?  By 1990 the cost was $110 billion per year.

• How about the Medicare home benefit program?  That was passed in 1988.  At that time we were told that the cost just 5 years later would be $4 billion per year.  The actual cost?  Try $10 billion .. more than twice what we were told.

There has NEVER been a government medical benefit program in this country that actually cost less or close to what the politicians told us it was going to cost when they were trying to get that program passed.  The goal is to pass the program – telling whatever lies are necessary to do so – and to keep the program on the books -- again telling whatever lies are necessary – until enough people become dependent on the program to insure voter support for the politicians who protect it. 

Are you getting the picture here?