Cost of Medicare Rx Benefit Could More Than Double

The cost of the Medicare prescription drug benefit is expected to more than double over a 10-year period to almost $1 trillion dollars, according to a congressional aide, who laid much of the blame for the increase squarely at the feet of drug manufacturers.

"This is what happens when you let the pharmaceutical industry write its own check with the federal treasury," said the Democratic aide, who asked not to be identified.

Although Bush administration officials Feb. 7 projected the Medicare drug benefit would cost $394 billion starting in 2006, that estimate was for a five-year period. When Congress passed the Medicare Rx bill in November 2003, the benefit was projected to cost $400 billion over a decade.

Under the administration's new budget estimates, the cost of the benefit will be somewhere in the $900 billion range, the aide said.