Compare Gore's Medicare Drug Plan to Bush's Debacle

During the 2000 presidential campaign, Democrat Al Gore had proposed a simple drug benefit that would have been delivered by Medicare—and not outsourced to private companies. His estimated a price tag of $253 billion over 10 years drew condemnations from Republican ranks. “Mr. Gore seems unconcerned about costs,” the Wall Street Journal sniffed.

To counter the Gore drug-benefit plan, Bush offered voters his privatized version—pulling out of his hat a price tag of $158 billion. When he pushed his plan to Congress in 2003, the number had risen to $400 billion. At the time, a government actuary had determined that the program would cost a lot more than $400 billion, but he shut up after the Bush administration threatened his job. And so taxpayers are now looking at a $724 billion bill.