Data Hidden in 2004 Medicare Trustees' Report Show Huge

As Depicted in USA Today, Bush Administration Hid Key Data that Shows How Fast-Rising

Washington, D.C. - This morning, USA Today's front-page headline story reveals data withheld in the 2004 Medicare Trustees' report - providing the most damaging evidence to date about the huge and growing costs seniors will pay for Medicare. The following is the statement of Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, about the report:

"The new Medicare data that the Bush Administration hid from public view provides the clearest proof that seniors will find their pocketbooks squeezed and depleted by the new Medicare law. It is the 'smoking gun' that verifies seniors' worst fears.

"According to the previously hidden data, the inadequacies of the new law will be felt immediately when the prescription drug program begins in 2006 - and, with each passing year, it will get considerably worse.

"As examples, Medicare costs in 2006 will deplete more than one-third (37.2%) of an average 65-year-old's Social Security check, and it will consume an even larger portion (42.7%) of an average 85-year-old's check. Two decades later, those Medicare costs will devour 53.2% and 64.5%, respectively, of such seniors' Social Security checks.

"The squeeze on seniors' pocketbooks is the product of the new Medicare law's bonanza to HMOs and the drug companies contrasted with meager help to America's seniors."

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Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

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