Switch to Medicare Costs Taxpayers $2.5 Billion

The New York Times reports that switching the elderly poor from Medicaid to Medicare's new drug benefit will cost taxpayers as much as $2.5 billion. Why? State Medicaid directors operate under laws requiring that the poor get the lowest negotiable price. But when Congress passed the Medicare drug benefit in 2003, it specifically forbade the federal government from negotiating with drug firms.

That's $2.5 billion straight from your pocket to theirs, courtesy the Republican Congress. Thanks guys.