Drug benefit 'affordable'?

According to the comptroller general of the United States, David Walker: "The federal government's long-term liabilities and unfunded commitments for things like Social Security and Medicare benefits have risen to more than $46 trillion. That's up from $20 trillion just five years ago. The new Medicare prescription drug benefit, which may be one of the most poorly designed, inefficiently implemented, and fiscally irresponsible government programs of all time, has added more than $8 trillion to this sea of red ink" (speech at Harvard on March 6, 2006).

David S. Ahlstrom

Perry