June 21, 2006 5:22PM 

# Fuzzy Math 

By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) 

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This one is a few days old, but last week the Bush administration [lowered](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/06/16/national/w163053D61.DTL&type=politics) by 500,000 its rah-rah-Medicare-Part‑D estimate of the number of seniors with drug coverage. Seems they double-counted half a million veterans who had enrolled in a private Part D drug plan. Oops.

Two observations.

First, given the administration’s [track](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4138) [record](https://www.cato.org/2006/05/09/republicans-tripping-on-medicare-prescription-drugs/), journalists should just start using disclaimers like, “Remember, these Medicare figures were provided *by the Bush Administration*. Wink, wink.”

Second, I’m not a big fan of either [Part D](https://www.cato.org/2006/05/15/why-the-cost-of-the-gops-medicare-rx-program-will-rise/) or the [Veterans Health Administration](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=5847). But left-wingers love the latter and hate the former. I wonder how they explain veterans leaving their [preferred](http://select.nytimes.com/2006/01/27/opinion/27krugman.html?hp=&pagewanted=print) model for the one entitlement program they [detest](http://select.nytimes.com/2006/05/15/opinion/15krugman.html?ex=1149825600&en=578902c66b458406&ei=5087%0A).

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) 

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