Defense spending overshadowing health care

February 15, 2007
Defense spending overshadowing health care

On the same day the president was proposing another $245 billion to prosecute the war this year and next, which would bring the five-year total since the war began to a staggering sum of $589 billion, he also called for slashing $78.6 billion from Medicare and Medicaid over the next five years.

In addition, the president wants Medicare recipients to pay higher premiums for prescription drugs and doctors' services, and to eliminate annual indexing of income thresholds, effectively another $10 billion in cuts.